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2024-03-31-accounts

Our impact

UK Annual Report 2023–24

UK Annual Report Contents

Contents

Manaisoa, 29, playing with Fitiavantsoa outside their home in Andavabaza village, Behara commune, Amboasary District, Anosy Region, Madagascar, June 2022.

Aim 1

Achieve universal, sustainable and safe services in focused geographic areas to influence wider change 08

Aim 2

Prioritise water, sanitation and hygiene across the health sector to improve public health 10

Aim 3 Strengthen the resilience of water, sanitation and hygiene to climate change 12

Aim 4

Increase the quantity and quality 14 of financing

Shahzadi, 13, collects water from a newly built handpump in her village in Badin, Sindh, Pakistan. November 2023.

Welcome 04 Our impact 06 Looking forward to 2024–25 16 Our wonderful supporters 18 Thank you 20 Financial summary 22 Key policies and processes 24 Trustees 32 Structure 38 Independent auditors’ report to the members of WaterAid 42

Financial statements

School WASH club girls members, left to right, Stéphanie, 17, Phasila, 16, Juvanah, 13, Kennie, 15, and the president Anita, 13, standing outside the girl’s toilet blocks, Ambataria secondary school, Fenerive Est, Analanjirofo region, Madagascar, April 2024. WaterAid/ Ernest Randriarimalala

Find out more about our latest achievements and the issues facing our work at:

/wateraid /wateraidUK /wateraid

Consolidated statement of financial activities 45 Charity statement of financial activities 46 Group and charity balance sheets 47 Consolidated cash flow statement 48 Notes to the financial statements 49

On the cover: Mayaman Malle, 55, watering onions crops inside the women’s market garden, in the village of Tigama, Bla, Segou Region, Mali, March 2022.

WaterAid UK Annual report 2023–24 / 3

UK Annual WelcomeReport Welcome

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WaterAid
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Moving into a new chapter

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WaterAid/ Katie McCraw
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In 2023–24 the combined efforts of the global WaterAid community brought us another step closer to our vision – everyone, everywhere with clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene. Around the world, through our work with communities, millions more people tasted clean water, used a safe and private toilet and washed their hands with soap for the first time. With these three things, children have swapped buckets for schoolbooks, adults have unlocked the doors to small businesses, and everyone has a better chance to stay healthy and happy. What an incredible difference you helped to make.

Sidney, 9, washing his hands at one of the handwashing stations outside the primary school’s new sanitation block, Vhembe district, Limpopo province, South Africa, June 2023.

Together we achieved all this despite significant challenges. Extreme weather, made worse and more frequent by climate change, diverted resources and threatened to undo progress. Global inflation made it more expensive to get things done in the countries where we work. And the ongoing cost-of-living crisis at home put pressure on our supporters’ ability to give. But none of this could stop the determination of our staff, volunteers and supporters to make good things happen.

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WaterAid/ Ernest Randriarimalala
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A global strategy for local change

This year we completed the transition to our new ten-year Global Strategy, beginning an exciting new chapter in our journey.

This builds on decades of experience supporting people to change their lives with clean water, toilets and hygiene. It continues the approaches we know deliver results – working with communities, service providers and local governments to build waterpoints and toilets, run behaviour change campaigns, and plan for ongoing maintenance and repairs.

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WaterAid/ Tariq Hawari
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Jenitha, 21, gives her baby Regina water from one of the new community taps in their coastal community in East Sepik, Papua New Guinea, April 2024.

Now we seek to work alongside hundreds of millions more people to bring clean water, toilets and hygiene to their communities. Our work will be focused on four aims:

  1. Achieve universal, sustainable and safe services in focused geographic areas to influence wider change

  2. Prioritise water, sanitation and hygiene across the health sector to improve public health

  3. Strengthen the resilience of water, sanitation and hygiene to climate change

  4. Increase the quantity and quality of financing.

We know change happens at the country level, with global leadership. So our in-country teams have each chosen strategic areas to focus on that will have the most impact in their contexts. This will lead to bigger, faster, more sustainable changes.

Everything is connected

In 2023–24 we saw an encouraging trend in the integration of water, sanitation and hygiene into high-level conversations about health and climate change. National decision makers increasingly understand that these fundamentals are the foundation on which progress towards other Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) can be built.

Throughout the year, we engaged with health ministers and health sector workers to advocate and support urgent action to put clean water and toilets in all healthcare facilities. These essential services are relatively simple and cost-effective ways to tackle emerging challenges such as pandemics and antimicrobial resistance. So it is encouraging to

see water, sanitation and hygiene now being an integral part of many national policies and plans on health.

At COP28 in Dubai WaterAid raised awareness of the links between climate change and access to clean water at the highest level. In Uganda we were contracted to manage and execute the Adaptation Fund, recognising our climate change work in the country to date. And in November we headed to Nigeria to discuss with political leaders and heads of commerce the impact of a warming planet on services in Lagos. While the risks to people’s safety, health and livelihoods are enormous, there is still time to build resilience and support communities to adapt. The Resilient Water Accelerator – a WaterAid initiative attracting considerable private sector investment – is showing the scale of the response that is needed and possible with political will.

Strength in diversity

In 2023–24 we continued to recruit and promote staff in-country across our global federation, while increasing representation and diversity at our most senior levels. We welcomed Amaka Godfrey as Executive Director, International Programmes and Syed Abdul Muntakim in the role of Executive Director of Finance and Strategic Planning. And we appointed five new trustees to our board – Mamadou Biteye OBE, Ashvin Dayal, Simi Kamal, Sanjay Nair and Nina Jasinski – bringing more expertise and experience from the countries where we work.

We are extremely grateful and honoured that HM King Charles III will continue his close relationship as our Royal Patron, having played a hugely significant role over the past three decades of support.

And our special thanks go to all of our supporters who continue to believe in the transformative power of clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene. As we begin to implement our new strategy, we will need every one of you by our side to meet the challenges that lie ahead and reach everyone, everywhere. Thank you for your generosity, partnership and belief in our shared vision.

Tim Wainwright

Andy Green CBE

Chief Executive

Chair of Trustees

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WaterAid UK Annual report 2023–24 / 5

UK Annual Report Our impact

Our impact

Working in partnership

Our direct reach Since 1981 WaterAid has directly reached:

In 2023–24 WaterAid worked with 224 partner organisations on 222 projects. Our partners included:

28.9 million people with clean water

104 governmental bodies and 73 non-governmental organisations from the local to the global.

29.2 million people with decent toilets

or 18 primary networks alliances, alongside a wide range of others.

28.7 million people with good hygiene

Rural and urban authorities, and public utilities.

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WaterAid/ James Kiyimba
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Nambi Joy, 26, Plumber, fixing a burst water pipe in the community, Namutumba Water Supply Scheme, Namutumba District, Uganda, April 2023.

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Dylan, 2 years and seven months
old, sitting in the doorway holding a
glass of clean water, Antsakambahiny
village, Manjakandriana commune,
Analamanga region, Madagascar,
May 2024.
Delivering services directly
People we directly reached in 2023–24:
Number of people Communities Schools Healthcare Public
we reached (in or near people’s facilities facilities
directly with homes)
Clean water 436,771 74,844 686,699 144,839
Decent toilets 252,599 106,100 860,894 20,059
Good hygiene
through better 105,925 219,061 872,030 21,924
facilities
Good hygiene
through behaviour 854,624 221,160 215,456
change activities
WaterAid/ Ernest Randriarimalala
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Wider scale

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Below are the people we reached through influencing and capacity strengthening in nine of the countries we worked in.

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WaterAid/ Ram Saran Tamang
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Number of
people we
helped through
infuencing		 Communities
(in or near people’s
homes)		 Schools Healthcare
facilities		 Public
facilities
Clean water 430,629 6,106 217,850 1,976
Decent toilets 60,895 9,072 36,513 0
Good hygiene
through behaviour
change activities		 864,523 8,712 0

*During 2023–24 many countries were transitioning to new strategies, winding down legacy projects, aligning to new selected aims, and starting up new projects. Some countries did not have projects running that contributed to indirect reach or met the eligibility criteria for reporting indirect reach.

Riya Danuwar, 18, taking a break to readjust her bamboo basket and gagri (a traditional waterpot), on the way towards a water source to fetch drinking water, Dukuchhap, Nepal, March, 2024.

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WaterAid UK Annual report 2023–24 / 7

Section 1 Aim One

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WaterAid/ Ernest Randriarimalala
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Manaisoa, 29, getting ready for church inside her kitchen in Andavabaza village, Behara commune, Amboasary District, Anosy Region, Madagascar, June 2022.

Aim 1 Achieve universal, sustainable and safe services in focused geographic areas to influence wider change

status. However, there are opportunities to involve more stakeholders and increase public investment in sanitary blocks and inclusive local development plans. This year, to get a clear picture of the current sanitation situation, we worked alongside the public sector to collect data about existing services, identify barriers to progress, and assess the situation using WHO/ UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) indicators. This included household, school and healthcare facility surveys. The data has enhanced local government understanding of investment needs and areas for improvement. Stakeholders have adopted a responsibility charter to clarify roles as we support them in planning and improving services based on the collected data.

Local examples of universal, sustainable and safe services inform and influence those in power to make bigger changes. In districts and towns, we have been working with partners to deliver and improve services for households, schools and healthcare facilities. We have partnered with public, private and non-governmental organisations to strengthen the systems that keep services working and hygiene habits reinforced. And we have enhanced the voice and representation of service users, especially women and girls.

Analysing sanitation in Madagascar

In Madagascar we have been working in our two focus districts in the south, Ambovombe and Ambosary Sud, to tackle open defecation and improve sanitation services. The Madagascar Sanitation Roadmap aims to achieve open defecation free (ODF) status in 76 urban and 99 rural communes. This includes comprehensive sanitation planning and treatment at the commune level, along with pilot projects in rural areas promoting marketbased sanitation and in-situ treatment models. The two focus communes, characterised by arid climates, have populations of between 35,000 and 80,000. Challenges in the central towns are hindering overall progress towards ODF

Demonstrating partnership working in Nepal

In Nepal’s Lahan municipality WaterAid’s Beacon Project is a multi-stakeholder partnership working towards universal access to clean water, toilets and hygiene in communities, institutions and public places to influence wider change. Lahan is one of 23 towns where the Nepal Water Supply Corporation (NWSC) is providing piped water. However, 75% of the population still doesn’t have access and most are using water of unknown quality. While many people can use

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WaterAid/ Ram Saran Tamang
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A water tower base at the Nepal Water Supply Corporation facility, Lahan, Nepal, October 2023.

a basic toilet, waste is not safely removed or treated. And only 15% of houses have handwashing facilities. We have been working in Lahan with financial and technical support from the Anglian Water Alliance (AWA) since 2017. In the last year, more than 2,000 additional people now have access to safely managed water as a result of project activities, including drilling three new boreholes, installing waterpoints in two separate schools and facilitating a record number of household connections to the town’s piped water supply. We supported the construction of toilets and handwashing facilities in the community, four schools and one healthcare facility, alongside the promotion of good hygiene practices. To better understand the situation in Lahan and inform our behaviour change and advocacy work, we carried out a survey to measure water quality, identify key contaminants and quantify the public health risk. We completed a Climate Resilient Water Safety Plan (CRWSP) audit report recommendation and risk mitigation plan together with NWSC and AWA. Thanks to this demonstration of effective partnership working and our combined influencing, the WASH Plan and WASH Act have now been endorsed by the municipal assembly.

Laying the foundations for education in Ghana

We are working with Ghana’s Ministry of Education to improve the water, sanitation and hygiene services in schools. At Moshidaboro Basic School in Bongo district we have been supporting the health, wellbeing and performance of more than 200 pupils and 5 teachers. This year we built school toilets with separate facilities for girls, boys and people with disabilities, installed a new water source, constructed handwashing stations,

and carried out hygiene education. We also engaged parents and teachers, established a water, sanitation and hygiene committee, and implemented regular cleaning schedules to ensure the ongoing management of the facilities. Feedback from parents, teachers and students has been positive, with many observing a cleaner school compound and safer environment for all. We also supported decision makers at the district and regional levels with training on the life cycle cost approach (LCCA). This led to effective planning and budgeting to manage and maintain facilities in schools across Bongo district.

Towards universal access in Rwanda

Bugesera in eastern Rwanda has faced significant challenges in improving access to water due to its geography and climate. Many communities have relied on distant and unreliable sources such as swamps, lakes and seasonal streams. In recent years WaterAid has partnered with the district and the Water and Sanitation Corporation (WASAC) to address the issue collectively. Through the Mwogo-Juru Water Supply System (WSS) project, together we have dramatically increased the availability of clean water in the district. We successfully constructed a water supply scheme, including a pumping station, 44km of pipeline and 35 public taps, providing 35,000 people with clean water. We developed and implemented hygiene behaviour change campaigns, including ‘Run for Hygiene’ at the Bugesera Marathon in 2023. To ensure the sustainability of the scheme, we trained water user committees in operations and maintenance (O&M), mobilised the community to encourage payment for water, and trained WASH Board members to support and challenge the district’s plans. We also established a joint monitoring framework involving WASAC, Bugesera district and COFORWA (Compagnons Fontainiers du Rwanda) to ensure the scheme continues to deliver and meet required standards. Throughout this work, women’s involvement in decision-making was actively encouraged.

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Section 1 Aim T wohree

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WaterAid/ Dennis Lupenga
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Bonface Chione, 31, Nurse Midwife Technician conducting a hygiene behaviour change session with women at the Ntchisi District Hospital’s guardian shelter, Ntchisi, Malawi, May 2023.

Aim 2

Prioritise water, sanitation and hygiene across the health sector to improve public health

change interventions supports positive hygiene practises among staff. The overall outcomes of this project will be assessed in May/June 2024.

Modelling hand hygiene in Tanzania

In collaboration with the Government of Tanzania and local partners, and with funding from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), WaterAid has implemented a behaviour change project in healthcare facilities in Kisarawe district in Tanzania. This project aims to build on the impact of water and sanitation services in the area with improved hand hygiene practices among healthcare workers, preventing the spread of infectious diseases. Through the project, we have installed a rainwater harvesting system, upgraded sanitation facilities, and put new handwashing stations in 15 healthcare facilities serving around 40,000 patients a year, adhering to both national and international standards. We have also designed an evidencebased hygiene behaviour change intervention through a creative process targeting healthcare staff. This year, we facilitated six hygiene behaviour change sessions with more than 60 health workers to establish sustainable hygiene behaviours in the workplace. Various behavioural nudges were placed in key locations in healthcare facilities. The project results provide evidence that combining infrastructure improvements with behaviour

Universal, sustainable and safe water, sanitation and hygiene services are essential foundations for human health. We have been working to embed these services into health policies and programmes. This includes improving the availability and quality of inclusive and sustainable facilities and enabling safe hygiene behaviours to be practised. Our priority has been the requirements of women and girls, who make up the majority of health service users and health workers.

Promoting hygiene through immunisation in Nepal

Routine immunisation programmes present an ideal opportunity to raise awareness of safe hygiene practices. With support from WaterAid and partners, the Government of Nepal scaled up its Hygiene Promotion Through Routine Immunisation programme back in 2020/21 to annually engage around 530,000 mothers or guardians taking children below 15 months for their vaccinations. This year we influenced the government to increase the share of the national immunisation budget allocated to hygiene intervention activities by 3%. We contributed to the National Immunisation Strategy (NIS) 2023–30 which improves government accountability. And we assisted in the procurement of 20,000 new hygiene promotion packages and 400,000 take-home materials to reinforce and prompt hygiene behaviours. More than 1,700 new health workers received hygiene promotion training and more than 13,000 had a refresher, ensuring the continued impact and scale of this governmentled work.

Ashakala Rai, 37, Senior Auxiliary Nurse and Midwife leads a hygiene behaviour change session with mothers and babies at Jhor Mahankal Health Post, Tokha Municipality, Nepal June 2024.

Breaking the silence on menstrual health in Liberia

Funded by Global Affairs Canada (GAC), WaterAid and partners in Liberia have been working on a menstrual health and sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) project. HerWASH is taking place in 15 communities and 11 schools in Grand Cape Mount County. In this rural county in Western Liberia, social cultural barriers undermine gender equality and women’s and girls’ access to SRHR services. The project aims to improve comprehensive sexual and reproductive health and rights with a focus on women and adolescent girls through menstrual health interventions. This year we trained 120 menstrual hygiene champions and 40 menstrual pad producers in 15 communities. We ensured sanitation facilities were equipped for menstrual hygiene management (MHM) in 10 schools. And we supported the development and launch of the National MHM Guidelines. These activities have broken the silence around menstruation, empowered women and girls to stay healthy, and laid the foundations for wider changes in the country.

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WaterAid UK Annual report 2023–24 / 11

Section 1 Aim Three

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WaterAid/ Farzana Hossen
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Gita Roy leader of Golap Dol with another member, inside of the Maricchap Reverse Osmosis Water Plant at Tengrakhali village, Bangladesh, June 2022.

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Aim 3
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Strengthen the resilience of water, sanitation and hygiene to climate change

Universal, sustainable and safe water, sanitation and hygiene can only be achieved if services are designed to withstand climate threats and be quickly restored after extreme weather. We have been supporting communities, institutions and service providers to assess climate vulnerabilities and develop services that can withstand shocks. At the same time, we have been influencing investment in climate-resilient water, sanitation and hygiene finance and engaging with high-water-use sectors to improve water security.

Strengthening water security in Burkina Faso

In Burkina Faso we have been working with local authorities, farmers and communities to improve the climate resilience and water security of rural populations. Together we are achieving this through: improving access to reliable and inclusive water services; making the management of water resources more effective and equitable; and supporting people to manage threats to water security, such as droughts, heightened demand in the dry season and catchment degradation. This year, we drilled boreholes and constructed two solar powered water schemes; trained local people on managing their water supply, monitoring rainfall and testing water quality; provided rain and river gauges; raised awareness and

Ganda Lallogo, a community relay (volunteer) of the village of Belga, reading the newly installed rain gauge, in the village of Belga, commune of Boulsa, Centre-North region, Burkina Faso, June 2021.

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WaterAid/ Basile Ouedraogo
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cyclones. This is forcing communities to either buy expensive water from private vendors or spend hours a day walking for water. Salinityrelated diseases are common, especially among women. The WE-WE approach is supporting women entrepreneurs to construct and manage water treatment facilities that treat saline water using reverse osmosis (RO) serving 38,000 people. On average, these plants are making a profit of 23.6% enabling the women’s groups to lend money to other women to establish small businesses of their own. This year we provided training for 95 women entrepreneurs on managing the plants and using the microfinance loans, negotiated longer warranty periods with plant manufacturers and suppliers, and facilitated exchange visits for the operators of the plants to share what they have learned so far.

took action to protect against catchment degradation; and strengthened sub-catchment management. Communities are now collecting water resource data, planting trees in buffer zones around reservoirs to prevent erosion, and involving women and people living with disabilities in decision making.

Promoting climate-resilient services in Bangladesh

In Southwest Bangladesh, the Water Entrepreneurship for Women’s Empowerment (WE-WE) project, supported with fundraising from staff and suppliers of Severn Trent, is making safe drinking water available to communities vulnerable to climate change while empowering women. Communities in Assasuni face excess salt in their water supplies due to sea-level rise and increasingly frequent

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WaterAid UK Annual report 2023–24 / 13

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Section 1 Aim Four
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WaterAid/ Basile Ouedraogo
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Fidèle, 12, Abdoul,13, Youssoufa, 13, standing in front of the block of latrines for boys, at Basgana’s school A, Village of Basgana, Center-South region, Burkina Faso, April 2023.

Aim 4 Increase the quantity and quality of financing

Inadequate financing is a major barrier to progress on water, sanitation and hygiene. Substantially increasing the quantity and quality of financing is essential to ensure universal, sustainable and safe services. We have been working to secure higher and more efficient government spending, including more affordable services for low-income users. We have also been advocating increases in aid and climate finance to close SDG 6: clean water and sanitation financing gaps, and for resources to be allocated in a more transparent, efficient and equitable way.

year we established steering and technical committees, facilitated meetings between the government, NGOs and development agencies, carried out training on data collection and validation, and participated in analysing the data collected.

Getting Liberia talking water funding

In Liberia, more than 95% of funding for water, sanitation and hygiene is from donors. However, the new government has made sanitation a top priority through its ARREST (Agriculture, Roads, Rule of Law, Education, Sanitation, Tourism) national agenda. We are working with the government and our partners to increase allocations to water, sanitation and hygiene from the national budget from the current US$1.8m to at least US$4m annually. Our work is also focused on ensuring financing is transparent, gendersensitive and equitable. And we are advocating that funds are effectively disbursed, monitored and appropriately accounted for. This year, our advocacy led to 2 presidential and 46 legislative election candidates pledging to increase financing, 36 newly elected lawmakers holding talks on decision-making and financing, and a 7-member Standing Committee on Water, Sanitation and Hygiene & Environment being established to oversee strategic financing decisions.

Following financial flows in Niger

The financing needs of Niger’s water, sanitation and hygiene sector are estimated at US$5.3 billion (2016–2030). However, less than a third of the budget for the first phase was mobilised, leaving major challenges ahead. In collaboration with WHO and IRC WASH, and under the leadership of the Ministry of Hydraulics, Sanitation and the Environment, we have worked to develop country WASH accounts that provide a clear overview of financial flows in the water, sanitation and hygiene sector in both development and emergency situations. Through this initiative we aim to influence the government and donors to increase the water, sanitation and hygiene budgets, allocate funds to the regions most in need, and spend the money well. This

Making finance information more accessible in Zambia

In Zambia, despite access to water, sanitation and hygiene standing at 72%, 54% and 24% respectively, investment in these services accounts for only 2% of the annual national budget. To address this, we have been working as part of the NGO WASH Forum to call for increased use of the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) for water, sanitation and hygiene and raise awareness among communities of their rights to safe and inclusive services. This year we supported the simplification of the CDF guidelines and developed an easyto-read version for community engagement. We produced a CDF analysis report, brief and infographic to support our advocacy work. And we appeared before parliamentary committees to input into the CDF Bill of 2023 and call for increased investment in water, sanitation and hygiene.

Increasing the sanitation budget in Burkina Faso

We have been working with the government and sector partners to reform the national sanitation policy in Burkina Faso and implement it in line with the African Sanitation Policy Guidelines (ASPG). In this country that is heavily reliant on outside aid, an estimated 28% of the population lacks a decent toilet. Through this project we are working alongside the government, in line with the ASPGs, to increase the budget allocation for sanitation and hygiene and ensure decision makers are accountable for providing services. This year we carried out and shared the results of studies

Neomi Giana, 23, washes and hangs laundry, Mukobela community, Zambia. November 2023.

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WaterAid/ Laura Pannack
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into the degree to which water, sanitation and hygiene appear in finance laws. We built the capacity of parliamentarians on financing and budget monitoring by demonstrating the gaps established in funding for drinking water and sanitation and deepening understanding around the critical role of parliamentarians in the budgetary process. And provided evidence to enable them advocate for an increase in the amount allocated to WASH. And we advocated for an increase in the water, sanitation and hygiene budget, the development of an action plan for the national water strategy, and adoption of the strategy. As a result of this work, we have seen an increase in the state budget for sanitation and hygiene in the finance law, from CFA1.5 billion in 2023 to more than CFA4 billion in 2024.

Catalysing water security investment across the world

Despite the need for urgent action, there is a global investment gap of US$200 billion per year in water infrastructure, especially in important medium-sized projects, which not only supply water for households but also industry and agriculture. To address this, WaterAid has set up the Resilient Water Accelerator, as part of the UK Government’s Just Transitions for Water Security programme. The Accelerator supports policy makers, utilities and the wider water sector to identify critical threats to water security and build a shared vision as the basis for prioritising water investment. Recognising the need to boost investment from all sources, the programme also supports investors to identify barriers to investment and catalyse increased finance. The Accelerator is already working in Lagos, Nigeria, where 90% of the 20 million residents lack access to a municipal water supply. This year we facilitated the launch of the Lagos Water Partnership, led by the Governor of Lagos, to build collaborative action and work towards mobilising private and public finance for climate-resilient water and sanitation projects. The Accelerator is also working in Bangladesh, another fast-growing economy facing major water stress. This year we worked with international consultancy firm Deloitte to engage policy makers, civil society and investors to prioritise water risk and identify investable solutions so water stress does not hinder the country’s economic growth.

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WaterAid UK Annual report 2023–24 / 15

UK Annual Report Looking forward

Looking forward to 2024–25

2024–25 is the first full delivery year of our ambitious new Global Strategy (2022–2032) after a two-year transition period. Our work will now be focused on four strategic aims to accelerate progress towards our vision of a world where everyone, everywhere has sustainable and safe water, sanitation and hygiene.

Aim 3: Strengthen the resilience of water, sanitation and hygiene to climate change

We will revise the minimum standards for climate-resilient services to move beyond infrastructure and advise on service delivery systems. Through our collaborations with governments and service providers we will strengthen their ability to respond quickly and effectively when extreme weather events occur. And we will advocate that water, sanitation and hygiene are included in climate policies and plans, making communities more resilient to climate change.

Aim 1: Achieve universal, sustainable and safe services in focused geographic areas to influence wider change

In the year ahead we will work with our partners to increase access to water, sanitation and hygiene in selected geographic areas, showing that change is possible and providing evidence on how to make it happen. To do this we will collect baseline data on national, regional and local access to understand where the need is greatest and which areas present most potential to model success. Our focus areas will include making service improvements sustainable, accelerating progress on sanitation, and ensuring women and girls have equal representation in decision making.

Aim 4: Increase the quantity and quality of financing

To assess where there are financing gaps and where investment needs to be better targeted, our country teams will track national budgets for water, sanitation and hygiene. We will continue to call for greater and more effective investment in services so the people most in need are reached and coverage is equitable. By supporting governments to apply for and manage funding, we will ensure money is invested where and how it can have the biggest impact.

Aim 2: Prioritise water, sanitation and hygiene across the health sector to improve public health

In an exciting development of our approach, for the next three years our country teams have chosen to focus on one, two or three of these strategic aims. This will ensure their efforts best fit their national context and have the biggest potential for change.

In the countries where we work, we will engage with ministers and other health stakeholders to embed water, sanitation and hygiene in health policies and plans. We will show examples of the quality of services required to protect healthcare workers, patients and visitors, and advocate that national and international standards in service delivery are met. And we will promote hygiene messaging in health services, such as routine immunisation programmes, and in public buildings, such as schools, hospitals and marketplaces, to better protect people’s health.

Find out how you can support WaterAid in the year ahead, visit: wateraid.org/uk/get-involved

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Tesfanesh, a 12th grader in
Haro Dumal secondary school,
washing her hands using the
newly constructed hand-
washing facility in the school,
Haro Dumal Town, Berbere
District, Oromia Regional
State, Ethiopia, October 2023.
WaterAid/ Frehiwot Gebrewold
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UK Annual Report Your support

Our wonderful supporters

All our work in 2023–24 was made possible by the generosity, energy and commitment of the individuals and organisations that chose to support us. Because of the important part you’ve played, millions more people now have the clean water, toilets and hygiene services they need to stay healthy and unlock their potential.

Doug Muncey MBE

Doug was a longtime WaterAid supporter who sadly died in January, aged 97. He was instrumental in establishing our partnership with Rotary in Great Britain and Ireland (RIBI), influencing the service organisation to choose WaterAid as its International Charity of Choice in 1992–93. Since then, close ties have been maintained and millions of pounds have been raised from more 200 clubs across the country. A volunteer for over 30 years, Doug was one of the first recipients of our President’s Award in 2002 and was awarded an MBE for services to WaterAid in 2008.

We would like to say a massive THANK YOU to all of you who have supported WaterAid, either financially, as a volunteer, through partnering with us, or by campaigning.

People’s Postcode Lottery

This year marks a decade of partnership with People’s Postcode Lottery, with players raising over £25m during this time. With this funding, we’ve directly reached more than 2.3 million people with clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene. In 2023–24 alone the Postcode Global Trust awarded WaterAid £3.1m. Thanks to this support, many more people will be able to build healthier, more dignified and more fulfilled lives.

Coteford Junior School

Children and young people are often in the audience at our volunteer Speaker talks and workshops. But pupils from Coteford Junior School got in touch with a unique invitation – to give a talk to us, about WaterAid. This original presentation was part of their fundraising Global Village event in summer 2023, which included international food and drink, a raffle, a magician, a cake sale, a joke teller and a dance routine. The event finished with two pupils giving a talk that was passionate, well prepared and delivered with much enthusiasm. They raised £1,100 – their highest charity fundraising total yet!

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WaterAid/ Oliver Dixon
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Marcus Mumford

Starting back in 2005 Marcus has now taken on more than ten fundraising challenges for WaterAid, including three London Marathons, bicycle rides across the UK and various other supporter events. Setting several Guinness World Records along the way, at the beginning of the year he became fastest person to run the London Marathon dressed as a tap - he truly is a champion WaterAid supporter!

Celebrating 10 years of partnership with the People’s Postcode Lottery: WaterAid hosted a 10 year anniversary party at the London office in September 2023. Jennie York, Director of Communications and Fundraising at WaterAid as well as Callum Aitken, International Development Advisor at People’s Postcode Lottery, gave speeches. Hazel Johnstone, Head of Long-term Partnerships at People’s Postcode Lottery, also attended.

Diageo

Global beverage company Diageo has been a valued WaterAid partner for over a decade. This year our partnership continued to develop with programmatic work across Africa and joint communications and events. Together we have showcased the importance of businesses

investing in water, sanitation and hygiene to achieve the co-benefits this brings. We thank Diageo for its continued commitment to action on clean water, both within its own supply chains and through inspiring others to support our mission.

Lord Howard Leigh of Hurley

Lord Howard Leigh of Hurley began supporting WaterAid in 2011 and has since raised over £445,000 from his annual charity runs. Over the last year, Lord Leigh raised another £49,543 for our work. Since 2022 He has also supported our mission by raising awareness of water, sanitation and hygiene in Parliament, as Co-Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on WASH. We are enormously grateful for his continued support which helps us deliver lasting change at scale.

Wimbledon Foundation

Since 2020, with funding from the Wimbledon Foundation, we have been working with our local partners to improve the water, sanitation and hygiene services and behaviours in four healthcare facilities, serving more than 300,000 patients per year in Ntchisi district, Malawi. Facilities include solar-powered water supply systems, toilets and handwashing stations. Alongside these we have developed hygiene behaviour change interventions and WASH and infection prevention and control (IPC) training materials targeting healthcare workers, patients and visitors. In this last year of the project, we finalised the WASH and IPC training package, made it available through the government website, and shared materials with both national and global stakeholders for wider rollout. The Ministry of Health is now integrating the training materials into its national IPC training curriculum for the health workforce, which will be used by national and district-level trainers across the country.

Shahbaz Arshad at Severn Trent

Shahbaz became the Severn Trent WaterAid Regional Representative in 2023, and in that time has shown outstanding passion, commitment and kindness in raising funds for our joint project in Bangladesh. He has gone above and beyond to support volunteers, organise events and engage his community. We look forward to continuing our journey together.

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WaterAid/ Richard Blaxall
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London Landmarks Half Marathon, 7 April 2024.

Glynn Trow

Glynn Trow, who sadly passed away in June 2024, was one of WaterAid’s most-loved volunteers. As a member of the Speaker Network he delivered more than 90 talks and workshops, consistently receiving excellent feedback from audiences as “the best guest Speaker we have had”. Along with being a dedicated Speaker, he took part in our ‘Walk for Water’ fundraiser and featured in the campaign, hand-delivered the WaterAid campaigning manifesto to his local MP’s office, and volunteered with us at festivals and the RHS Chelsea Flower Show. He contributed an incredible amount to WaterAid and our cause. We will miss his warmth, energy and passion.

John Wareing, Anne Allister and Sam Wareing

John, Anne and son Sam have made fundraising for WaterAid a family affair, together supporting us for decades. John’s volunteering goes back all the way to 1982, having spent most of his career in the water industry. Following this, he was a member of the Lancashire WaterAid Local Group, raising vital funds, and with Anne, became a volunteer Speaker, spreading the word about the importance of clean water to thousands. Since 2005, John and Anne have volunteered with WaterAid at Glastonbury Festival, recently joined by Sam who has been supporting us both before we’re onsite and during the festival. Together the family has taken on an impressive number of WaterAid fundraising events including Coast Along, the Munro Challenge, RideLondon 100, the WaterAid Mountain Challenge and March for Water. Once again, they were back at the Glastonbury Festival this year - there’s no stopping them!

18 / WaterAid UK Annual report 2023–24

WaterAid UK Annual report 2023–24 / 19

UK Annual Report Your support

Thank you

If you have supported WaterAid this year, through a donation, campaign action or partnership, you have helped make everything we’ve achieved possible. We can’t thank everyone we’d like to in these pages but here are some of the people and organisations who have played their part in making clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene a reality for everyone, everywhere. To all our wonderful supporters and partners – thank you!

Companies and partners

Apex Group Belu Water Ltd Diageo Plc DP World Giorgio Armani Beauty

GSK

Hogan Lovells Kimberly-Clark Spirax-Sarco Engineering Sulzer

Wimbledon Foundation

Philanthropists, trusts and foundations

Mr Angus Vassie

Arab Gulf Programme for Development – AGFUND

Band Aid Charitable Trust

Fondation Prince Albert II de Monaco Lord Howard and Lady Jennifer Leigh of Hurley Medicor Foundation

Players of People’s Postcode Lottery Professor Robert Hillenbrand and Professor Carole Hillenbrand

Sharegift

Stiftung Drittes Millennium Tetra Laval

Channan, 3, and Devit, 5, drinks cups of clean water in Kampong Chhnang Province, Cambodia, Feburary 2023.

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WaterAid/ Tariq Hawari
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The Alchemy Foundation The Constance Travis Charitable Trust

The Georg and Emily von Opel Foundation The Reo Stakis Charitable Foundation The Waterloo Foundation

The Zochonis Charitable Trust

Legacy givers

Everyone who made the special decision to leave the world with water in their will.

Individual and community supporters

Coteford Junior School

Frank Lawson Glastonbury Festival Glynn Trow John Wareing, Anne Allister and Sam Wareing Lions Clubs

Marcus Mumford Matthew Beal Rotary Clubs of Great Britain and Ireland Sara Wilmut

Sing for Water choirs Steve Cheshire

All our volunteers who supported our work, through the Speaker Network and our Local Groups, at festivals, universities and beyond.

UK water industry staff, supply chain

Institutional fundraising

and customers

British Council Pakistan

Affinity Water

Cowater International Cummins

Anglian Water Alliance partners – Beacon project

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH

Anglian Water Services Ltd Bournemouth Water Bristol Water Plc

European Commission

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO)

Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water Environment Agency Essex and Suffolk Water Northern Ireland Water Northumbrian Water Ltd Scottish Government International Development Fund Scottish Water SES Water

Global Center on Adaptation (GCA)

International Development Research Centre (IDRC)

Irish Aid

Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA)

KFW Development Bank

London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

Severn Trent South East Water South Staffs Water South West Water Southern Water Thames Water United Utilities Wessex Water Yorkshire Water

Punjab Rural Municipality Services Company Scottish Government

Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA)

Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation

UNICEF

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

University of Liverpool

20 / WaterAid UK Annual report 2023–24

WaterAid UK Annual report 2023–24 / 21

UK Annual Report Financial summary

Financial summary

Unrestricted funds

Income

We ended the year with an unrestricted deficit of £1.7m which reduced our general income fund at the end of March 2024 to £22m (2022-23: £23m). This is above the target minimum range of £13m to £17m million which we will draw on to manage future risks and to invest in our strategic priorities. More detail on our reserves policy can be found on p32.

Total income in 2023 - 24 was 4% lower compared to the prior year, driven by a reduction in grant funding for specific activities as major projects reached completion. Donations from individual supporters remained steady. Increased income from legacy and in memoria gifts offset a small decrease in regular giving. Donations from community events and faith groups increased on the previous year, as did funding from philanthropic donors. Income from corporate partnerships and trusts increased with new relationships being established. However total income from other WaterAid members decreased with fewer grants for specific activities being secured. We are immensely proud and grateful for the continued generosity of our supporters, as it has a direct impact on our ability to respond to the difficult and often volatile circumstances currently being experienced in the countries where we work.

Restricted funds

Restricted funds of £12m (2023: £13m) represent funds that have a specified purpose as expressed by the donor. Expenditure is charged to the specific fund in line with the terms of the donor contract. The trustees have no discretion to allocate the funds to any other use.

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Total
income
£90.9m
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Individual supporters

£54m

Governments and other institutions

£10.6m

Other income

£1.4m

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26p
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In every £1 spent 74p went on delivering services and making change happen and 26p went on fundraising and governance.

Expenditure

Total expenditure reduced by 3% on the previous year. Spending was reduced due to some funding contracts coming to an end and not being renewed, including in the three countries where we closed our programmes during the year. The decrease in expenditure is also attributable to high levels of local currency depreciation in some countries where we work, making it cheaper to deliver our programmes in GBP terms. The decrease seen in the spend on delivering water, sanitation and hygiene is representative of the decrease in grant funding for specific activities.

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Total
expenditure
£93.6m
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Fundraising

25%

Supporting partners to deliver water, sanitation and hygiene 32%

Strengthening national and local capacity to deliver services

25%

Influencing policy in water, sanitation and hygiene 14%

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Income and expenditure 2019-2024
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Fund balances

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2019/20 2020/21 2021/22 2022/23 2023/24
Income Expenditure
£91m £95m £90m £92m £95m £96m £91m £94m
£85m £85m
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At the end of March 2024, the closing total charity funds were £39m (2023: £42m), made up of the following:

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General funds
£22m
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Designated funds
(fixed assets
fund) £5m
Restricted funds
£12m
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22 / WaterAid UK Annual report 2023–24

WaterAid UK Annual report 2023–24 / 23

Section 2 Key policies and processes

Section 2

Key policies and processes

Our values

Our values define our culture and unite us across the many countries in which we work. They are at the very heart of WaterAid – who we are, what we do and how we do it.

Respect We treat everyone with dignity and respect, and champion the rights and contribution of all to achieve a fairer world.

Accountability We are accountable to those we work with and to those who support us.

Courage We are bold and inspiring in our actions and words, and uncompromising in our determination to pursue our mission.

Collaboration We work with others to maximise our impact, embracing diversity and difference in the pursuit of common goals.

Innovation We are creative and agile, always learning, and prepared to take risks to accelerate change.

Integrity We act with honesty and conviction, and our actions are consistent with openness, equality and human rights.

Safeguarding

Our commitment

We are committed to the safeguarding and wellbeing of all individuals, from the people in the communities where we work, to our staff, volunteers, contractors, and partners. We have zero tolerance for the abuse of power, privilege or trust, or any form of inappropriate behaviour, discrimination, abuse, harassment or exploitation of any kind.

All representatives of WaterAid – our staff, volunteers, contractors and partners – commit to our Global Code of Conduct which sets out

our high standards of expected behaviour, and outlines the consequences if these standards are not met.

Safeguarding activity

All reports of misconduct are fully investigated by trained staff, with a survivor-centred approach, and appropriate actions are taken to protect and safeguard everyone involved.

In 2023–24, our Global Safeguarding Team received 47 reports from across the WaterAid Federation. 31 of these related to WaterAid UK directly. All reports are managed centrally by our Global Safeguarding Team.

We resolved 18 reports following an initial safeguarding review and 17 reports were referred internally to another team for further action. Four reports were referred to an external authority, agency or support service, and one report prompted a safeguarding and culture review.

Seven reports led to a safeguarding investigation by WaterAid or partner staff. One of these reports related to sexual abuse and two related to sexual exploitation. These three reports were reported to the Charity Commission, who agreed with our investigations, outcomes and recommendations. The remaining four reports related to inappropriate behaviour, sexual harassment and bullying.

The outcome of the safeguarding investigations led to the following actions:

Two staff members and one volunteer were dismissed.

Other cases led to individual action plans, recommendations for training and greater safeguarding awareness.

The number of reports has increased this year and we are seeing a trend of increased reporting from within the communities where we work. We believe this is positive, reflecting a growing understanding and confidence to report, linked to our expanded Safeguarding Focal Point network and increased focus on

safer programming. However, given the scale of our operations and partnerships, and the challenging contexts in which we work, we recognise there is likely to be a degree of underreporting and we remain dedicated to improving and strengthening our safeguarding reporting with partners and the communities we work with.

Governance

Each WaterAid Federation member has a safeguarding trustee who ensures WaterAid boards achieve their safeguarding responsibilities.

Our Global Head of Safeguarding provides written reports to all WaterAid boards, attends the WaterAid UK Board meetings, and liaises regularly with Global Leads, safeguarding trustees and WaterAid boards. This year we introduced WaterAid’s Global Safeguarding Community of Practice group, consisting of a lead trustee from each WaterAid member organisation, to ensure strong governance of safeguarding across the Federation.

We launched WaterAid’s new Global Safeguarding Framework, capturing our strategic priorities. We also further strengthened our Global Safeguarding Team with the introduction of new Safeguarding Coordinator and Community Engagement Advisor roles.

Training and awareness

Our global network of Safeguarding Focal Points has grown to 56 individuals across 30 countries. These safeguarding champions have introduced training sessions for new staff and contractors and collaborated with government partners and communities for effective safeguarding implementation.

This network came together for the first time in October 2023 for a training event, collaborating to develop skills and strengthen confidence to protect the wellbeing of everyone involved in or affected by our work. In addition, our Safeguarding Focal Points and the Global Safeguarding Team provided training to over 2,780 participants, including WaterAid staff, board members, partners, and other nongovernment organisations over the year.

Strengthening the sector

WaterAid values the collaborative efforts of the international development sector in strengthening safeguarding knowledge. We are actively involved in local safeguarding networks and our Head of Global Safeguarding sits on the Bond Safeguarding Steering Group for the UK. To share tools and knowledge across the sector, we created a learning animation on identifying barriers to reporting, to support wider case learning.

For more information, please see our Safeguarding page at wateraid.org/us/ safeguarding-at-wateraid

Modern slavery

Our full Modern Slavery statement is available at wateraid.org/uk/modern-slavery-statement . It outlines our commitment and coordinated action in relation to the Modern Slavery Act 2015 in respect of our policies for staff and partners, and our operations and supply chains. During the year, we have increased the level of training provided to our Safeguarding Focal Point Network. This is to ensure that safeguarding is down streamed throughout all areas where WaterAid works. Any concerns around modern slavery or trafficking are reported, recorded and dealt with through safeguarding procedures. During 2023–24, no safeguarding concerns about modern slavery were reported.

Anyone can raise a safeguarding concern by contacting the Global Safeguarding Team on +44 (0)207 793 4468 or at safeguarding@wateraid.org You can also report concerns to our independent whistleblowing service, Safecall.

24 / WaterAid UK Annual report 2023–24

WaterAid UK Annual report 2023–24 / 25

Section 2 Key policies and processes

Section 2

Key policies and processes

Diversity, equity and empowerment

We are passionately committed to being an organisation where everyone is welcome and included and where differences are valued. We seek to represent and celebrate the diversity of our staff, partners and everyone we work with, and create a culture where everyone can feel safe, reach their full potential and bring their unique and valuable contribution. We are dedicated to achieving the highest standards of diversity, equity and inclusion and welcome people of all backgrounds, beliefs, customs, traditions, and ways of life to work with us.

Addressing power imbalances

We emphasise global unity, personal growth, and collective efforts to end the water, sanitation, and hygiene crisis. This commitment to growth extends to our organisation, as we strive to become an ever-more diverse and inclusive global team. Increasingly, we have been challenging our own assumptions and practices as an organisation to remove internal power imbalances and inequalities that get in the way of us achieving our mission.

In 2021, over 650 staff across the world contributed to a review of how internal power inequalities affected their work and hindered our mission. Feedback ranged from being too UK-centric; not recognising expertise and contribution, allocating resources and opportunities equally, or ensuring enough decision-making autonomy within and between the countries we work in; and not having enough diversity of voices at Board and senior leadership levels.

Our Global Power and Diversity Steering Group, made up of representatives from across the WaterAid Federation, drives the One WaterAid programme of five priority areas for change: diversity and inclusion; culture and change; organisation structure; decision autonomy; and resource allocation.

Commitments

The rich diversity of experiences and perspectives of our people, partners, and the communities we work with are crucial to the sustainable achievement of our mission. This year we developed and launched four commitments to diversity, equity and empowerment, asking every WaterAider to play their part in the delivery:

  1. We will continually strengthen our individual and collective understanding, allyship, and action, and learn from the knowledge and expertise of our staff closest to the water, sanitation, and hygiene challenges we seek to overcome.

  2. We will ensure inclusive practices in all areas of our work from our programmes, policy, advocacy, fundraising, communications, people, finance, IT, and assurance.

  3. We will ensure that we are mission-centric in our organisational design, resourcing, and partnerships, and our structures, systems, processes, and approaches empower and enable impactful programmes and influence.

  4. Our communications will be inclusive and respectful, representing our people, communities and supporters in an accurate, authentic, and consensual way that is free from bias.

Senior teams will develop action plans, allocate budgets and report on progress regularly to ensure transparency and accountability for these commitments.

Training and awareness

We continue to run training programmes to deepen awareness and allyship, and build a shared understanding of concepts related to diversity, equity and empowerment across the WaterAid Federation.

590 staff have completed a recent module exploring the power we hold within ourselves and how we leverage our personal power. Future modules are being developed for gender and intersectionality; and racism, ethnicity and caste.

Activity

We are improving the representation and diversity of staff from all parts of our organisation in strategic decision making for maximum impact. We extended the Executive Directors’ Team to involve senior leaders outside the UK, and we have introduced an approach to succession planning to support leadership team diversity and representation objectives. Nearly 60 roles which might previously have been UK based are now held by people based in global majority countries. Inclusive leadership is now also part of our groundbreaking Accelerate to 2030 leadership programme. The WaterAid UK Board has a lead trustee for diversity, equity and empowerment, equal numbers of women and men, and 40% of the Board currently identify as being from the global majority.

Our International Programmes Department began implementing a new structure, devolving more power to country teams and we have reviewed the allocation of income to provide greater transparency to our teams. We launched representation guidelines and a language guide to ensure our external communications are accurate and authentic, and respect and protect the people we work with.

We have staff-led employee groups to support neurodiversity, LGBTQ+, women and the global ethnicity majority. We amplify voices, share updates, and promote wellness through our internal DEE eMagazine. We celebrated our values of respect, collaboration, and courage through illustrations of the cultural diversity of our organisation during our annual ‘My WaterAid’ week. This internal engagement activity gave an opportunity to pause, reflect and celebrate our diversity and create a sense of belonging at WaterAid.

In the UK, staff are now able to opt out of faith-based national holidays at Easter and we launched a toolkit with guidance on menopause. We have made progress in addressing prejudice and bias in recruitment with training for managers. We have policies in place to ensure we give candidates, existing staff, and volunteers equal opportunities to succeed. We are a Level Two Disability Confident Employer. We support flexible working and encourage staff to develop to match their circumstances and aspirations.

See our gender and ethnicity pay gap information on our website at www.wateraid. org/uk/Gender-and-Ethnicity-Pay-Gap

26 / WaterAid UK Annual report 2023–24

WaterAid UK Annual report 2023–24 / 27

Section 2 Key policies and processes

Section 2

Key policies and processes

Managing risk

We work in countries where a level of risk is inevitable. We have an active risk management process in place to make sure appropriate steps are taken to manage and mitigate risk across the organisation.

The Board of Trustees and Directors Team have been clear that the areas where risk should be assessed most cautiously relates to the health, welfare, safeguarding and security of people and the reputation of WaterAid. In other areas, there is an evaluation of risk and reward before taking opportunities. Managed risks will be taken where there is a reasonable basis for believing that this will be to the benefit of people in relation to clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene.

The Board of Trustees has overall responsibility for ensuring that we have a system of internal control, management and audit to take advantage of opportunities and manage risk effectively. Assessment of risk and opportunity is central to WaterAid’s decision-making processes, planning and monitoring.

Our process

Financial reporting which compares results with the budget on a monthly, quarterly and yearly basis.

Value for money principles which guide when and where we source goods and services, how we benchmark salaries, and our policies on investment and reserves.

Significant risks in the year under review

The high risk areas we identified are as follows:

Global turbulence impacting programme delivery, advocacy and fundraising: Conflicts, political instability, extreme weather events and high inflation in countries where we operate may disrupt our ability to deliver on programme commitments within expected timeframes. Governments’ and donor attention may be diverted from the wider development agenda, including the WASH sector. The cost of living crisis may impact our supporters’ ability to donate. These risks were mitigated through close monitoring of the political context, contingency planning, adhering to security protocols, financial and programme monitoring, financial modelling and scenario planning to check that our plans remained affordable, and regular communication with our partners. We worked with sector-wide coalitions to make the case for retaining support for the poverty-reduction agenda, specifically WASH.

and Ransomware. WaterAid are Cyber Essentials Certified and we remain committed to continuing to improve our security as we consider this an ongoing high risk area.

Main risks for the year ahead

Continued political uncertainty: Uncertain and turbulent global and national political contexts, including national elections, may affect programme delivery and advocacy. We will mitigate this risk by regular scanning of the political environment, contingency planning, and financial and programme monitoring. We will rally support for WASH ahead of national elections.

Critical skills vacancies: One of our key risks relates to recruitment and retention. For example, our priority to develop climate-resilient WASH solutions requires specific skills which can be difficult to recruit for. To migitate this risk we regularly benchmark our salary offer to peer organisations and we are committed to the wellbeing of our staff. We invest in our staff to build the necessary skills to deliver our strategy and develop existing and future leadership to confidently manage change.

Changes to legislation: Changes to legislation and national rules around NGO registration in countries where we operate may negatively impact on our ability to deliver programme work and to send or receive funds. We will mitigate this risk by monitoring changes to legislation and we will seek legal advice where necessary to ensure we remain compliant. We engage with NGO forums and collaborate with multi-laterals such as the World Bank to knowledge share.

Ongoing safeguarding and security risk: We consider that safeguarding and security remain top risks for WaterAid. We will continue our efforts to further strengthen our safeguarding and security measures and monitor that these are working effectively.

Ongoing cyber security risk: Like most

organisations, we consider that cyber security remains a top risk. We will continue our efforts to further strengthen our cyber security protocols and adapt to the changing threat environment.

28 / WaterAid UK Annual report 2023–24

WaterAid UK Annual report 2023–24 / 29

Section 2 Key policies and processes

Section 2

Key policies and processes

Our public fundraising approach

We raise a significant percentage of our funds from the public. Our primary aim is to ensure we do this in a respectful and inspiring way, consistent with our core values and in line with all relevant law and regulations, specifically the Fundraising Code of Practice. We also support measures that will improve public trust and support for fundraising in the charity sector as a whole.

In order to raise funds and awareness and enable supporters to get involved, we rely on a variety of different activities including – fundraising over the telephone, through letters and emails and by television; digital and press advertising; promoting legacies, events, payroll giving and community fundraising; and engaging philanthropists, trusts, foundations, public sector bodies and corporate partners.

We speak to many supporters about fundraising by telephone each year, if they have given prior consent for this. We use a professional telephone fundraising agency, Angel, to carry out this work on our behalf in accordance with our own high standards and sector regulation. We closely monitor our agency’s compliance, training and call quality to ensure we provide our supporters with the best experience. We use an independent assessor to monitor a minimum of 2% of calls made, providing the agency with detailed feedback and training actions where appropriate. Should a call fail to meet our quality expectations, we will take immediate action such as removing a fundraiser from the WaterAid account pending retraining, or permanently for more serious call quality concerns.

We provide training on vulnerability to Angel fundraisers every quarter and campaign managers do separate training for any appeals being managed at Angel. As part of their induction to working on a WaterAid campaign, all Angel fundraisers are required to sign a Code of Conduct stating they will protect people in vulnerable circumstances and uphold WaterAid’s high standards in their fundraising.

We have quarterly reviews with Angel to discuss performance. Campaign managers have more frequent calls when campaigns are live and we have fortnightly calls to discuss call quality.

To ensure our telephone fundraising is of the highest standard, we run a full tender every three years to ensure we partner with an agency who can deliver the exceptional quality our supporters expect.

You can learn more about our approach to telephone fundraising at wateraid.org/uk/ - telephone fundraising

We work with Professional Fundraising Organisations (PFOs) who are invited into workplaces to sign people up for payroll giving. All PFOs are registered with the Fundraising Regulator, meaning they are committed to fundraising in line with the Code of Fundraising Practice. All of the PFOs we work with have shared their training plans with us, providing assurance that the right training is in place to ensure responsible fundraising practice. None of the PFOs we work with do door-to-door fundraising, they only fundraise on invitation of the employers.

To protect potentially vulnerable supporters, all new fundraisers who join WaterAid must complete the mandatory Fundraising Compliance Induction training, delivered by the Fundraising Compliance Team, on protecting people in vulnerable circumstances, what vulnerability means and how to recognise and respond appropriately to a potentially vulnerable supporter.

You can read our Vulnerable Supporter Policy, informed by industry guidelines, on our website at wateraid.org/uk/our-fundraising-promise

As per our Privacy Policy, we provide supporter details to agency partners fundraising on our behalf. However, we do not give or sell our supporters’ details to anyone else, and we do not contact people from ‘cold’ lists.

Whenever a partner fundraises on our behalf, we put in place data sharing agreements to ensure the security and fair processing of personal data in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

When considering a new partner who would process personal data, we also conduct a Data Protection Impact Assessment to identify and mitigate any potential risks to that data.

We are members of the Chartered Institute of Fundraising and the Direct Marketing Association and endorse the formation of best practice standards and guidelines for the sector, which we also help to define. We take privacy seriously and are committed to protecting our supporters’ personal information. You can read our Privacy Policy on our website at - wateraid.org/uk/privacy policy

We are registered with the Fundraising Regulator and pay an annual levy as required. We support public consultations on their Code of Fundraising Practice, work diligently to ensure compliance with the Code and champion its standards across all our fundraising, and adhere to the requirements of the Fundraising Preference Service.

It is vital that we communicate with our supporters in the manner they prefer, respecting their privacy and communication preferences. We actively encourage supporters to contact us with any feedback, and we give complaints our utmost attention, to help us improve our fundraising approach.

During 2023-24, we made 4,754,314 contacts using email, mail and telephone.

We received 140 complaints about our fundraising, 0.003% of the total contacts we made. These were 75% of all complaints received. Our Supporter Care team investigates every complaint, responding within three working days. We do all we can to resolve complaints and ensure that supporters are happy to be part of our work. The key causes were direct mail (65%), telephone fundraising (11%) and online activity (7%).

Data protection

We take privacy seriously so that our supporters can trust us with their data.

We always demonstrate our accountability to the principles of the UK GDPR and the requirements of the Data Protection Act 2018.

We have the following in place to help protect personal data:

For more information on how we use and protect personal data, please see our privacy notice at wateraid.org/uk/privacy-policy

30 / WaterAid UK Annual report 2023–24

WaterAid UK Annual report 2023–24 / 31

Section 2 Structure

Section 2

Structure

Managing our finances

Reserves policy

Our reserves policy seeks to retain a level of readily accessible funds within an operational reserve of unrestricted monies to mitigate financial risks identified in the risk management plan. Trustees review winding down costs, current risks based on the risk register and strategic investment requirements in setting the target range. The target for the operational reserve is reviewed on an annual basis and for 2023–24 the minimum target range was £13m to £17m. The general income fund at the end of March 2024 was above this range, at £22m. We expect a deficit in the year 2024-25, due to the lower income projections, inflationary pressures on expenditure and also investments we want to make in programmes and fundraising in order to meet our strategic priorities. We expect these factors will bring reserve levels closer to the target range.

The majority of our unrestricted income is generously donated by individuals through regular gifts, legacies or fundraising events. Throughout the year, cost of living pressures continued to challenge our fundraising ambitions. At the same time, high levels of inflation in most countries where we work put pressure on our ability to deliver our programmes within budget. We had planned to end the year with a unrestricted deficit of £5.4m but ended the year with an unrestricted deficit of £1.7m primarily due to better than expected fundraising from individuals in the UK and high levels of currency depreciation in some of the countries where we work, making it cheaper to deliver our planned programmes.

Total funds at 31 March 2024 were £39m, of which £12m was in restricted funds. Restricted funds are received from governments, trusts, foundations, corporations and individuals. The restrictions that these partners place on the funds they give us can range from a focus on a theme or country to a high degree of restriction, such as a specific project in a

particular country. These monies are dedicated to specific programmes and the Trustees have no discretion to reallocate them to other uses. Restricted funds received in one year are carried forward into future years where the criteria for applying them to particular programmes have yet to be met for compliance with the funder’s conditions.

We aim for as much flexibility in our funding portfolio as we can achieve, working in partnership with those that fund us. We are stringent in our management of all our funding, whether restricted or unrestricted.

Investment policy and performance

We hold short-term investments and cash. The objective of our investment policy is to limit risk as far as is possible while earning such interest as is available on very secure deposits. Accordingly, our investment policy is to hold cash or invest in short-term liquid deposit accounts only at those banks with a high credit rating. We don’t invest in stock and shares.

Due to stable interest rates in the UK, investment income increased to £701,000 in 2023–24 (2022-23: £379,000); we expect good rates of return on cash balances to continue in 2024–25, depending on the prevailing interest rate on deposits.

Going concern statement for 2023–24

As required by the Charities Statement of Recommended Practice (FRS 102), we assess whether there are any uncertainties that may cast doubt over our ability to continue as a going concern. For this purpose, we focus on a period of at least 18 months following the signing of these accounts, so the period to at least the end of September 2025.

Our annual budget and plan, presented to the Board in March 2024, represents management and the Board’s best forecast of the fundraising targets and key income streams, alongside the expected cost base for the years to 31 March 2027. The Board approved the annual budget

for the period ending 30 September 2025 on that basis.

This budget forms the base case for our going concern assessment. In addition, we have undertaken scenario modelling to understand the impact of various income downsides and cost pressures on our future expenditure both at a UK and country programme level. We have modelled several scenarios that when compared to the budget assumptions reflect lower income and a higher cost base.

We have also prepared an acute or ‘severe but plausible downside’ scenario, which combines high inflation economic pressures affecting stock and property prices, a material reduction in regular giving and no continued funding received from specific key donors.

Although the impact of the acute scenario is severe and would require the consideration of mitigating actions which are wholly within our control to reduce our discretionary cost base, the analysis indicates that the Group would have sufficient liquidity and reserves to honour our committed funding obligations and to maintain sufficient liquidity throughout the going concern period.

Robust monitoring processes are in place to ensure that the organisation is able to react quickly to any downturn in income and the short-term deposit investments held can be liquidated quickly in the event that they are required.

The Group currently has no bank financing or loan agreements and therefore there are no covenants to consider.

The Group will maintain its investment and cash reserves above its minimum range of £13m to £17m. As at 31 March 2024, the Group had managed cash and investments of £31m, well above the target minimum liquidity that the Trustees have set in order to remain in a financially stable position.

Taking into account our current position and our principal risks, the Trustees have a reasonable expectation that the Charity will be able to continue in operation and meet its liabilities as they fall due over the medium term. Accordingly, the Group expects to continue to have access to sufficient liquid resources to meet its obligations for a period of

at least 18 months after the approval of these financial statements, namely the period to March 2026, and the Board therefore continues to adopt the going concern basis of accounting in preparing the financial statements.

Public benefit

The Trustees have taken into account the Charity Commission’s general guidance on public benefit when reviewing the charity’s aims and objectives and in planning our future activities.

32 / WaterAid UK Annual report 2023–24

WaterAid UK Annual report 2023–24 / 33

Section 2 Structure

Section 2 Structure

How we operate

WaterAid is a Global Federation of which WaterAid UK is a member. There are six other members in America, Australia, Canada, India, Japan and Sweden. All federation members are independently constituted organisations with their own boards. WaterAid UK receives funding from other members of the federation to deliver services and make change happen. At the same time, WaterAid UK invests in other members to support their future growth. WaterAid UK also funds part of the running costs of WaterAid international – a requirement of all members.

Legal structure

WaterAid was established by Trust Deed on 21 July 1981, incorporated on 30 January 1984 and registered as a charity in England on 22 February 1984. WaterAid registered as a charity in Scotland on 3 April 2008. WaterAid has a Memorandum which sets out the objects and powers of the organisation and is governed in accordance with its Articles of Association.

WaterAid is a company limited by guarantee, under which the members each undertake to contribute £1 in the event of the company being wound up. WaterAid UK is a member of the WaterAid federation. WaterAid international was formed in 2010 and is the secretariat for the federation, holding the WaterAid trademarks and licensing members of the federation to use those marks. WaterAid international accounts do not require consolidation into WaterAid UK accounts as WaterAid UK does not exercise control or significant influence over WaterAid international.

Trading company

The principal activity of WaterAid Trading Limited (the “Company”) is identifying and undertaking commercial licensing deals. WaterAid Trading Ltd made a net profit of £546,984. A deed of covenant is in place whereby all profits generated by the company are gift aided to the parent charity. This trading company is wholly owned by WaterAid and primarily operates the sub-licensing agreements that WaterAid enters into but also sells goods.

Organisation structure

WaterAid has an office in London where the Chief Executive and a team of five Directors and the Internal Audit and Compliance department are based, alongside the secretariat for WaterAid international. The Directors are responsible for the departments of International Programmes; Policy and Campaigns; Finance and Strategic Planning; Communications and Fundraising; and People and Organisational Development.

As of 31 March 2024, WaterAid had offices, registered as branches of the UK company, in 22 countries in Asia and Africa.

Country Directors and Team Leaders in each branch report into a Regional Director. All are appointed by and accountable to the Director of International Programmes. Country Heads of Finance report to the Country Directors and have a dotted line to the UK-based Director of Finance and Strategic Planning. WaterAid also works in partnership with civil society networks and other organisations in countries where there is no WaterAid presence.

Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting (SECR)

A peer benchmarking study on greenhouse gas reduction commitments and an assessment in line with the GHG Protocol were completed during the year. The assessments identified opportunities for positive environmental impact through our work, and risks for negative environmental impact affecting or affected by our work, including, risks related to environmental

degradation, climate change and loss of biodiversity affecting environmental sustainability.

The second largest emission area is marketing materials – yielding 890 tonnes CO materials has a strong environmental profile 2e . Our main supplier of marketing with a Science-Based Target of net zero emissions by 2035.

WaterAid UK’s Board of Trustees

The Board of Trustees governs the organisation in line with its Articles of Association, vision, mission, values, aims and charitable objectives and provides overall policy direction. The Board is responsible for compliance with the legal and statutory requirements of a UK charity and of a registered company. We have a Conflicts of Interest Policy and Procedure, and a Register of Interests is held by the Company Secretary. Trustees and senior management are expected to sign a declaration when they join and update this annually.

We are committed to the highest standards of governance and seek to make continuous improvements in line with the principles set out in the Charity Governance Code. Overall, we meet all applicable areas of key compliance of the Charity Governance Code.

Following an amendment to our Articles in 2017, Trustees serve a four-year term (renewable once). In occasional circumstances, these periods may be further extended to retain specific skills.

The Board of Trustees has four sub-committees:

  1. The Audit & Risk Committee promotes and safeguards the highest standards of integrity, financial reporting and internal control. It also oversees the organisation’s risk management processes, IT and communications systems, capital spend projects and internal and external audit. Significant activities over the year, included; approvals of the Risk Management Policy and a change to the structure of the Internal Audit Team. The Committee also reviewed and endorsed the Financial Statements.

  2. The Nominations and Governance Committee ensures that candidates of the highest calibre are put forward for election to the Board of Trustees to achieve an appropriate and diverse mix of skills and experience across the Board as a whole. During the year, the Committee lead on the recruitment of five new Trustees.

34 / WaterAid UK Annual report 2023–24

WaterAid UK Annual report 2023–24 / 35

Section 2 Structure

Section 2

Structure

  1. The People Committee reviews the development of our people management policies and practices including our salary policy, with a particular focus on executive remuneration. Significant discussions over the year included diversity, equity and empowerment, gender and ethnicity pay gap, succession planning, and development and recruitment of critical skills.

  2. The Communications and Fundraising Committee oversees and monitors fundraising procedures, policies and activities. It also provides advice on activities that may pose financial, regulatory or reputational risk. During the year, the Committee held deep-dive sessions on reputation management, brand development and awareness, and fundraising performance.

All these committees have terms of reference published in the governance manual, which is on our website. An induction programme is held for Trustees joining the Board. Trustees are invited to participate in seminars with staff as well as being expected to visit our work in country programmes to familiarise themselves with our operations. As part of the development of the Board, a Board evaluation is held biennually and individual Trustees are performance assessed each year.

The members of the Board of Trustees who have served during the year are listed in the Board of Trustees section on page 40, together with the Royal Patron, Vice President and Directors team.

Day-to-day management of the charity is delegated by the Trustees to the Chief Executive. The planning and reporting arrangements in place give Trustees confidence that the charity is being managed effectively.

Registers of Interests

We keep Registers of Interests for all Trustees and Directors that we regularly review and update as required.

Section 172 (1) Statement of Directors’ duties

WaterAid UK is governed by the charitable objectives which set out the purpose and mission of the charity. The consequences of all decisions and activities of WaterAid are assessed by how they drive us towards achieving that long-term purpose. As Company Directors, the Trustees must act in accordance with duties outlined in section 172 of the Companies Act 2006, summarised as follows:

A Director of a company must act in the way they consider, in good faith, would be most likely to promote the success of the company for the benefit of its members as a whole. As a charity we are accountable to our members – people who support us and engage with us. In this regard, our members are:

those we support with water, sanitation and hygiene;

staff and volunteers;

those who provide us with resources to deliver, and those who partner with us to achieve, our vision of water, sanitation and hygiene for everyone, everywhere.

In doing this, Directors have regard (among other matters) to:

The impact of the company’s operations on the community and the environment:

In agreement with all federation member boards, one of our global principles is for us to be a sustainable organisation. We have increased focus on the interlinkages between WASH and climate change to ensure that we deliver sustainable and resilient WASH services for the communities that need them most. The UK, alongside all members of the federation, has committed to new measurement criteria related to economic health, safeguarding and wellbeing of communities and staff, and environmental impact.

The reputation for a high standard of business conduct:

The Board of Trustees support the pace and sensitivity in which we are approaching the crucially important work on diversity, equity and empowerment. Mala Rao is our lead

Trustee in this area, championing this work and encouraging, challenging and advising the Board and Executive on the integration of this work into our thinking. The Board receive regular updates on progress, support our global commitments, and have agreed diversity objectives.

The interests of the company’s employees:

Spending time with staff, both formally and informally, is important to Trustees. New Trustees receive face to face and virtual inductions with all departments. A programme of engagement is scheduled each year for the Board, this includes; webinars and seminars, networking and Q&A sessions.

The need to foster the company’s business relationships with suppliers, customers and others:

During the year, Trustees visited Ghana and Nigeria, meeting with communities, implementing partners, and local and national government officials. They visited schools and health centres, met with community groups and participated in highlevel meetings.

The need to act fairly between members of the company:

The Trustees are the sole members of the charity, and the charity is not run in the interests of the members but of the objectives of the charity. As a member of the WaterAid federation, Trustees work to ensure the work of WaterAid UK is well aligned with the rest of the Federation.

The likely consequences of any decision in the long-term:

Our ambition is to deliver even more quality and impact at the highest level in the countries where we work. The ambition requires us to be even more focused across our global organization, and to concentrate efforts to maximise the resources and skill levels in country programmes. To make these shifts, the Board approved the decision to exit from three country programmes – Sierra Leone, Eswatini and Myanmar – as part of the 2022–32 Global Strategy. Exit from these countries was completed during 2023–24.

36 / WaterAid UK Annual report 2023–24

WaterAid UK Annual report 2023–24 / 37

Section 2 Structure

Statement of trustees’ responsibilities

The Trustees (who are also Directors of WaterAid for the purposes of company law) are responsible for preparing the Trustees’ Annual Report (including the Strategic Report) and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and regulation.

Company law requires the Trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year.

Under that law, the Trustees have prepared the financial statements in accordance with United Kingdom Accounting Standards, comprising FRS 102 “The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland”, and applicable law (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice). Under company law the Trustees must not approve the financial statements unless they are satisfied that they give a true and fair view of the state of the affairs of the charitable company and the group and of the incoming resources and application of resources, including the income and expenditure, of the charitable company/group for that period. In preparing these financial statements, the Trustees are required to:

select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;

observe the methods and principles in the Statement of Recommended Practice: Accounting and Reporting by Charities (2019); make judgments and estimates that are reasonable and prudent;

The Trustees are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that are sufficient to show and explain the charitable company’s transactions and disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charitable company and the group and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charitable company and the group and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

The Trustees are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the charitable company’s website. Legislation in the United Kingdom governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions.

In accordance with Section 418, Directors’ reports shall include a statement, in the case of each Director in office at the date the Directors’ report is approved, that:

The Board of Trustees approved the Trustees’ Report, including the Strategic Report, on 13 September 2024. Signed on its behalf by:

13 September 2024

Andy Green CBE Chair of the Board of Trustees

Bishnu Kumari Thapa drinks clean water, Jogidhada, Shailung, Dolakha District, Nepal. September 2023. WaterAid/ Nishant Gurung

38 / WaterAid UK Annual report 2023–24

Section 2 Trustees

Section 2

Audit

Our leadership team

Royal Patron

HM King Charles III[ix]

Vice President

The Rt Hon Baroness Chalker of Wallasey[ix]

Board of Trustees

Manuel Alvarinho

Mamadou Biteye OBE (from July 2023) Alyson Clark[vi] Ashvin Dayal (from July 2023) Andy Green CBE[vi, vii, viii] Chair of the Board of Trustees Nina Jasinski[viii] Chair of the Communications and Fundraising Committee (from July 2023) Simi Kamal[vii ] (from July 2023) Heidi Mottram CBE[vii]

Sanjay Nair,[v] Treasurer (Trustee from July 2023 and Treasurer from November 2023)

Mala Rao CBE[vi,vii] Vice Chair

Guido Schmidt-Traub Peter Simpson[v] Heather Skilling[v]

Matthew Tweedie[v] Treasurer (until November 2023)

Hilary Wild[v] Chair of Audit & Risk Committee

Chief Executive and Company Secretary Tim Wainwright

v Audit & Risk Committee member

vi Nominations and Governance Committee member

vii People Committee member

viii Communications and Fundraising Committee member

ix Honorary positions

Directors team

Olga Ghazaryan, Executive Director of International Programmes (until June 2023)

Amaka Godfrey, Executive Director of International Programmes (from June 2023)

Paula Laird, Executive Director of Finance and Information Technology (until August 2023)

Syed Abdul Muntakim Executive Director of Finance and Strategic Planning (from April 2024) Sol Oyuela, Executive Director of Policy and Campaigns Rachel Westcott, Executive Director of People Jennie York, Executive Director of Communications and Fundraising

Principal banker

Barclays Bank plc, 1 Churchill Place, London E14 5HP

Independent auditor

PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, 1 Embankment Place, London WC2N 6RH

Principal solicitor

Bates, Wells and Braithwaite, 10 Queens Street Place, London EC4R 1BE

Company number

1787329

Charity numbers

288701 (England and Wales) SC039479 (Scotland)

Registered office and operational address

6th floor, 20 Canada Square, London E14 5NN

Independent auditors’ report to the members and Trustees of WaterAid

Basis for opinion

Report on the audit of the financial statements

We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) (“ISAs (UK)”) and applicable law. Our responsibilities under ISAs (UK) are further described in the Auditors’ responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.

Opinion

In our opinion, WaterAid’s group financial statements and parent charitable company financial statements (the “financial statements”):

Independence

We remained independent of the group and parent charitable company in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the UK, which includes the FRC’s Ethical Standard and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements.

Conclusions related to going concern

Based on the work we have performed, we have not identified any material uncertainties relating to events or conditions that, individually or collectively, may cast significant doubt on the group and parent charitable company’s ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least twelve months from the date on which the financial statements are authorised for issue.

In auditing the financial statements, we have concluded that the trustees’ use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements is appropriate.

We have audited the financial statements, included within the UK Annual Report (the “Annual Report”), which comprise: the consolidated and charity balance sheets as at 31 March 2024; the consolidated statement of financial activities (including consolidated income and expenditure account), charity statement of financial activities (including an income and expenditure account) and the consolidated cash flow statement for the year ended 31 March 2024; and the notes to the financial statements, which include a description of the significant accounting policies.

However, because not all future events or conditions can be predicted, this conclusion is not a guarantee as to the group’s and parent charitable company’s ability to continue as a going concern.

Our responsibilities and the responsibilities of the trustees with respect to going concern are described in the relevant sections of this report.

40 / WaterAid UK Annual report 2023–24

WaterAid UK Annual report 2023–24 / 41

Section 2 Audit

Section 2

Audit

Independent auditors’ report to the members and Trustees of WaterAid (continued)

in the Trustees’ Report, including the Strategic Report, for the financial year for which the financial statements are prepared is consistent with the financial statements; and the Strategic Report and the Trustees’ Report have been prepared in accordance with applicable legal requirements.

Reporting on other information

The other information comprises all of the information in the Annual Report other than the financial statements and our auditors’ report thereon. The trustees are responsible for the other information. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and, accordingly, we do not express an audit opinion or, except to the extent otherwise explicitly stated in this report, any form of assurance thereon.

In addition, in light of the knowledge and understanding of the group and parent charitable company and its environment obtained in the course of the audit, we are required to report if we have identified any material misstatements in the Strategic Report and the Trustees’ Report. We have nothing to report in this respect.

In connection with our audit of the financial statements, our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the audit, or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify an apparent material inconsistency or material misstatement, we are required to perform procedures to conclude whether there is a material misstatement of the financial statements or a material misstatement of the other information. If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, we are required to report that fact. We have nothing to report based on these responsibilities.

Responsibilities for the financial statements and the audit

Responsibilities of the Trustees for the financial statements

As explained more fully in the Statement of trustees’ responsibilities, the trustees are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements in accordance with the applicable framework and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view. The trustees are also responsible for such internal control as they determine is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

With respect to the Strategic Report and Trustees’ Report, we also considered whether the disclosures required by the UK Companies Act 2006 have been included.

In preparing the financial statements, the trustees are responsible for assessing the group’s and parent charitable company’s ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless the trustees either intend to liquidate the group and parent charitable company or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.

Based on our work undertaken in the course of the audit, the Companies Act 2006 and The Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (as amended) require us also to report certain opinions and matters as described below.

Trustees’ Report (including the Strategic Report)

In our opinion, based on the work undertaken in the course of the audit the information given

Independent auditors’ report to the members and Trustees of WaterAid (continued)

Auditors’ responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements

(Scotland) Regulations 2006 (as amended). We evaluated management’s incentives and opportunities for fraudulent manipulation of the financial statements (including the risk of override of controls), and determined that the principal risks were related to the posting of inappropriate journal entries and the manipulation of key accounting judgements and estimates. Audit procedures performed included:

We have been appointed as auditors under section 44(1) of the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and under the Companies Act 2006 and report in accordance with the Acts and relevant regulations made or having effect thereunder.

Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditors’ report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance, but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements.

enquiring of management and the Board of Trustees, including consideration of known or suspected instances of fraud, and noncompliance with laws and regulations;

reading minutes of meetings of the Board of Trustees and Board subcommittees, including the Audit and Risk Committee;

reviewing the terms and conditions of significant contracts;

reviewing correspondence with regulators including the Charity Commission for England and Wales and the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator;

understanding and evaluating the group’s control environment;

Irregularities, including fraud, are instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations. We design procedures in line with our responsibilities, outlined above, to detect material misstatements in respect of irregularities, including fraud. The extent to which our procedures are capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud, is detailed below.

assessing the reasonableness of key accounting judgements and estimates including over grant income, gift in kind income, accrued legacy income and allocation of support and governance costs; and assessing financial statements disclosures, and testing to supporting documentation, for compliance with applicable laws and regulations.

Based on our understanding of the group and parent charitable company/industry, we identified that the principal risks of noncompliance with laws and regulations related to Charities Act 2011, and we considered the extent to which non-compliance might have a material effect on the financial statements. We also considered those laws and regulations that have a direct impact on the financial statements such as the Companies Act 2006, the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and regulations 6 and 8 of The Charities Accounts

There are inherent limitations in the audit procedures described above. We are less likely to become aware of instances of noncompliance with laws and regulations that are

42 / WaterAid UK Annual report 2023–24

WaterAid UK Annual report 2023–24 / 43

Section 2 Audit

Section 3 Financial statements

Independent auditors’ report to the members and Trustees of WaterAid (continued)

have not been kept by the parent charitable company or returns adequate for our audit have not been received from branches not visited by us; or

not closely related to events and transactions reflected in the financial statements. Also, the risk of not detecting a material misstatement due to fraud is higher than the risk of not detecting one resulting from error, as fraud may involve deliberate concealment by, for example, forgery or intentional misrepresentations, or through collusion.

certain disclosures of trustees’ remuneration specified by law are not made; or

the parent charitable company financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records and returns.

A further description of our responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements is located on the FRC’s website at: www.frc.org.uk/ auditorsresponsibilities . This description forms part of our auditors’ report.

We have no exceptions to report arising from this responsibility.

Use of this report

This report, including the opinions, has been prepared for and only for the charitable company’s members and trustees as a body in accordance with section 44(1)(c) of the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and the Companies Act 2006 and regulations made under those Acts (regulation 10 of The Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (as amended) and Chapter 3 of Part 16 of the Companies Act 2006) and for no other purpose. We do not, in giving these opinions, accept or assume responsibility for any other purpose or to any other person to whom this report is shown or into whose hands it may come save where expressly agreed by our prior consent in writing.

Daniel Chan (Senior Statutory Auditor)

for and on behalf of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP Chartered Accountants and Statutory Auditors London

16 September 2024

Other required reporting

Matters on which we are required to report by exception

Under the Companies Act 2006 and The Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (as amended) we are required to report to you if, in our opinion:

Consolidated statement of financial activities (including consolidated income and expenditure account) For the year ended 31 March 2024

2024 2023
Unrestricted Restricted Total
Unrestricted		 Restricted Total
Income from: Note £000 £000 £000
£000		 £000 £000
Donations and legacies
Donations 2 55,665 4,611 60,276
54,933		 4,096 59,029
Grants of a general nature 2 3,562 - 3,562
4,179		 - 4,179
Gifts in kind 2 640 - 640
276		 - 276
Charitable activities
Grant funding for specifc activities 4 - 24,392 24,392
-		 29,599 29,599
Other trading activities 3 919 96 1,015
992		 88 1,080
Other income 275 - 275
-		 - -
Investment income 701 - 701
379		 - 379
Total income 61,762 29,099 90,861
60,759		 33,783 94,542
Expenditure on:
Raising funds
Expenditure on raising grants, 5 23,462 247 23,709
23,007		 391 23,398
donations and legacies
Expenditure on other trading activities 5 (4) - (4)
142		 - 142
Charitable activities
Supporting partners to deliver water, 5 11,465 18,726 30,191
11,891		 22,731 34,622
sanitation and hygiene
Strengthening national and local 5 13,762 9,030 22,792
12,609		 9,291 21,900
capacity to deliver services
Infuencing policy in water, sanitation 5 11,782 1,540 13,322
10,595		 1,803 12,398
and hygiene
Supporting WaterAid globally 5 3,006 623 3,629
3,475		 462 3,937
Total expenditure 63,473 30,166 93,639
61,719		 34,678 96,397
Net (expenditure)/income (1,711) (1,067) (2,778)
(960)		 (895) (1,855)
RECONCILIATION OF FUNDS
Net movement in funds 21 (1,711) (1,067) (2,778)
(960)		 (895) (1,855)
Funds brought forward at 1 April 16 28,595 13,395 41,990
29,555		 14,290 43,845
Total funds carried forward at 31 March 16 26,884 12,328 39,212
28,595		 13,395 41,990

The statement of financial activities includes all gains and losses recognised during the year. There were no realised gains during the year on investment assets. All income and expenditure derive from continuing activities. There was no material difference between the charity and group accounts. The notes supporting the Financial Statements are on pages 49 to 71.

we have not obtained all the information and explanations we require for our audit; or adequate and proper accounting records

44 / WaterAid UK Annual report 2023–24

WaterAid UK Annual report 2023–24 / 45

Section 3 Financial statements

Section 3 Financial statements

Charity statement of financial activities (including an income and expenditure account) For the year ended 31 March 2024

Note
Income from:
Donations and legacies
Donations
2
Grants of a general nature
2
Gifts in kind
2
Charitable activities
Grant funding for specifc activities
4
Other trading activities
3
_Other income
_Investment income
Total income
Expenditure on:
Raising funds
Expenditure on raising grants,
donations and legacies
5
Charitable activities
Supporting partners to deliver water,
sanitation and hygiene
5
Sector strengthening and capacity
building to deliver water, sanitation
and hygiene
5
Infuencing policy in water, sanitation
and hygiene
5
Supporting WaterAid globally
5
Total expenditure
Net expenditure
RECONCILIATION OF FUNDS
Net movement in funds
21
Funds brought forward at 1 April
16
Total funds carried forward at 31 March*
16		 Unrestricted
£000
Restricted
£000
2024
Total
£000
Unrestricted
£000
Restricted
£000
2023
Total
£000
55,665
4,611
60,276
54,933
4,096
59,029
3,562
-
3,562
4,179
-
4,179
640
-
640
276
-
276
-
24,392
24,392
-
29,599
29,599
472
-
472
627
-
627
726
96
822
223
88
311
701
-
701
379
-
379
61,766
29,099
90,865
60,617
33,783
94,400
23,462
247
23,709
23,007
391
23,398
11,465
18,726
30,191
11,891
22,731
34,622
13,762
9,030
22,792
12,609
9,291
21,900
11,782
1,540
13,322
10,595
1,803
12,398
3,006
623
3,629
3,475
462
3,937
63,477
30,166
93,643
61,577
34,678
96,255
(1,711)
(1,067)
(2,778)
(960)
(895)
(1,855)
(1,711)
(1,067)
(2,778)
(960)
(895)
(1,855)
28,595
13,395
41,990
29,555
14,290
43,845
26,884
12,328
39,212
28,595
13,395
41,990

The statement of financial activities includes all gains and losses recognised during the year. There were no realised gains during the year on investment assets. All income and expenditure derive from continuing activities. There was no material difference between the charity and group accounts. The notes supporting the Financial Statements are on pages 49 to 71.

Group and charity balance sheets

At 31 March 2024 Company number: 01787329

Note
Fixed assets
Intangible assets
9
Tangible assets
9
Fixed asset investments
12
Total fxed assets
Current assets
Debtors
10
Cash at bank and in hand
13
Short-term deposits
13
Total current assets
Liabilities
Creditors: amounts falling due within one year
14
Provision for liabilities and charges
15
Total liabilities
Net current assets
Provision falling due over one year
15
Net assets
The funds of the charity
Unrestricted income funds
Designated funds
17
General income funds
17
Total unrestricted income funds
Restricted income funds
17
Total charity funds		 Group
Charity
2024
£000
2023
£000
2024
£000
2023
£000
2,223
2,279
2,223
2,279
2,814
3,371
2,814
3,371
182
100
-
-
5,219
5,750
5,037
5,650
11,138
9,075
11,341
9,981
26,878
34,352
26,294
33,085
4,200
3,000
4,200
3,000
42,216
46,427
41,835
46,066
(6,541)
(8,586)
(6,297)
(8,444)
(1,473)
(1,444)
(1,154)
(1,125)
(8,014)
(10,030)
(7,451)
(9,569)
34,202
36,397
34,384
36,497
(209)
(157)
(209)
(157)
39,212
41,990
39,212
41,990
4,901
5,748
4,901
5,748
21,983
22,847
21,983
22,847
26,884
28,595
26,884
28,595
12,328
13,395
12,328
13,395
39,212
41,990
39,212
41,990

The financial statements on pages 4 5 to 71 were approved by the Board of Trustees on 13th September 2024 and signed on its behalf by:

Andy Green Sanjay Nair Chair Treasurer

The notes on pages 49 to 71 form an integral part of these financial statements.

46 / WaterAid UK Annual report 2023–24

WaterAid UK Annual report 2023–24 / 47

Section 3 Financial statements

Section 3 Financial statements

Consolidated cash flow statement For the year ended 31 March 2024

Net (expenditure)/income for the year
Interest receivable
Amortisation of intangible assets
Depreciation of tangible assets
Loss on disposals of tangible assets
Asset impairment (reversal)/charge
(Increase)/ decrease in debtors
(Decrease)/ increase in short-term creditors
Increase in long-term creditors
Increase in provisions
Cash (used in) / generated from operating activities
Bank interest received
Payments to acquire tangible fxed assets
Payments to acquire intangible fxed assets
Purchase of fxed asset investment
Cash fows expended in investing activities
(Decrease)/ increase in cash in the year
Analysis of cash as shown in the balance sheet
Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the year
Net cash (outfow)/infow
Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the year
Cash and cash equivalents include funds held in short-term deposit
accounts that can be accessed without notice. The charity held no
borrowings, related derivatives or obligations under fnance leases
during the year.
Cash and cash equivalents
Cash at bank and in hand
Short-term deposits
Balance at 31 March		 2024
£000
2023
£000
(2,778)
(1,855)
(720)
(379)
1,050
496
876
864
28
-
(82)
82
(2,063)
1,486
(2,045)
1,207
52
52
29
18
(5,653)
1,971
720
379
(347)
(913)
(994)
(983)
-
(100)
(640)
(1,617)
(6,274)
354
2024
£000
2023
£000
37,352
36,998
(6,274)
354
31,078
37,352
2024
£000
2023
£000
26,878
34,352
4,200
3,000
31,078
37,352

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2024

1. Accounting policies

The principal accounting policies have been applied consistently in dealing with items which are considered material in relation to WaterAid’s Financial Statements.

WaterAid is incorporated in the United Kingdom (company number: 01787329) and is a registered charity in England, Wales and Scotland and is a public benefit entity. WaterAid’s registered office and operational address is: WaterAid 6th Floor, 20 Canada Square, London E14 5NN.

a) Basis of preparation

The Financial Statements have been prepared in accordance with Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice (Charities SORP (FRS 102), effective 1 January 2019), the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) and the Companies Act 2006, the Charities Accounts (Scotland) regulations 2006 and Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005, and under the historical cost accounting rules, except for investments which have been included at fair value or the value considered appropriate by the Board of Trustees.

The Financial Statements are drawn up on the going concern basis which assumes WaterAid will continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future (deemed to be a period of at least 12 months from the date the financial statements were authorised for issue).

b) Basis of consolidation

The group has three wholly-owned subsidiaries and a 20% share in an associate. Consolidated Financial Statements for the group, being WaterAid and WaterAid Trading Limited have been prepared on a line by line basis. Two further subsidiaries, WaterAid (WASH and Health) Limited and WaterAid (WASH and Climate Change) Limited were dormant for the whole of the financial year. Consolidation does not include WaterAid international as there is no ability to direct nor does it include dormant companies or other WaterAid members. Further details can be found in note 11. A 20% fixed asset investment in WeAreGoodGiving Ltd is treated as an associate and accounted for under the equity method with the consolidated accounts. A separate parent charity cash flow statement hasn’t been presented.

The activities of the regional fundraising committees in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland raising funds for WaterAid are deemed to be part of the activities of the charity. As such, they are included in full in the Financial Statements of the charity and group.

c) Foreign exchange

Transactions denominated in foreign currencies are translated at the rate of exchange at the beginning of the month as an approximation to actual transaction dates. Foreign currency balances are translated at the rate of exchange prevailing at the balance sheet date. Realised and unrealised foreign exchange gains and losses are included within support costs and reallocated across charitable activities in the Statement of Financial Activities (SOFA) as per note 5.

d) Income

All income is included in the SOFA when the charity is legally entitled to it, receipt is probable and the amount can be measured with sufficient reliability:

Donations Individual donations are recognised in the period in which they are received or receivable.

The notes on pages 49 to 71 form an integral part of these financial statements.

48 / WaterAid UK Annual report 2023–24

WaterAid UK Annual report 2023–24 / 49

Section 3 Financial statements

Section 3 Financial statements

Notes to the financial statements For the year ended 31 March 2024 (continued)

1. Accounting policies (continued)

Probability is based on grant of probate.

The estate is reliably measurable when the final estate accounts are received.

Legacy income is only recognised in the financial statements when the above criteria are met.

Pecuniary legacies are a fixed value income and we accrue all open gifts once probate has been granted and notification received. Residuary legacies are accrued once final estate accounts have been approved and final payment confirmed or an interim payment has been confirmed.

Other income Other income in the Group is income from disposal of fixed assets and in Charity is a gift aid donation by virtue of the Deed of Covenant and licence fee paid by WaterAid Trading.

Investment income Investment income is bank interest received and is recognised when earned.

Gifts in kind Goods, facilities and services donated for the charity’s use, where the benefit is quantifiable and the goods or services would otherwise have had to be purchased, are recognised in the Financial Statements, as both income and expenditure, at a reasonable estimate of their value in the period in which they are donated.

Fundraising events Fundraising events income is included in donation and legacies income as the funds received are by nature donations rather than funds paid to gain a benefit. Event income to which the charity has a legal entitlement and that is being held by a third party agent is recognised on a receivable basis. Fundraising event income received in advance are deferred until the event has taken place.

e) Expenditure

Expenditure is recognised in the period in which it is incurred on an accruals basis. Expenditure includes attributable VAT which can only be partially recovered.

Costs of charitable activities include direct expenditure incurred through grants to partners and operational activities together with associated support costs. Charitable expenditure is reported as it relates to work undertaken by the charity, in supporting partners, sector strengthening, capacity building and influencing policy to deliver water, sanitation and hygiene, and supporting WaterAid globally.

Grants are recognised in the period in which they are payable. Grants payable in furtherance of the charity’s objects are attributed to the related classification heading in the SOFA. Partner agreements and funding contracts may be for longer than one year.

The costs of raising funds relate to the costs incurred by the group and the charity in raising funds for the charitable work.

Expenditure is allocated to the particular activity where the cost relates directly to that activity. Support costs comprise the salary and overhead costs of the central function. The central function includes costs relating to the Departments of Finance, Facilities, Information Services, People and the Chief Executive’s Office. Governance costs include internal and external audit costs, legal and tax advice, Trustee expenses and Directors’ time spent on the governance of the organisation. Governance costs and other support costs have been allocated to expenditure on charitable activities based upon full time equivalent staff numbers. These staff numbers are listed in note 7 to the Financial Statements.

f) Fund accounting

General unrestricted funds are the funds that are available for use at the discretion of the Trustees in furtherance of the general objectives of the charity and which have not been designated for other purposes, nor had any specific restrictions applied.

Designated funds comprise unrestricted funds that have been set aside by the Trustees for particular purposes. The aim and use of each designated fund is set out in note 16.

Restricted funds are used for specified purposes as laid down by the donor. Qualifying project expenditure is allocated to the fund, together with a proportion of overhead costs where agreed by the donor. Negative balances are carried forward on funds only where further income is considered highly probable in the following year.

g) Fixed assets and depreciation

Tangible and intangible fixed assets are stated at historic cost less accumulated depreciation. Cost includes the original purchase price of the asset and the costs attributable to bringing the asset to its working condition for its intended use. Subsequent expenditure on an asset is only capitalised where it provides an enhancement of the economic benefits of the asset. Depreciation is provided at rates calculated to write down the cost of each asset to its estimated residual value over its expected useful life. The depreciation periods in use on a straight line basis are as follows:

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2024 (continued)

1. Accounting policies (continued)

Motor vehicles 3 years Equipment and furniture UK and overseas 3 years Computer hardware and software 3 years Lease improvements 10 years

Items of equipment are capitalised where the purchase price exceeds £1,500. Assets are reviewed for impairment if circumstances indicate their carrying value may exceed their net realisable value and value in use, and meets the capitalisation criteria as per FRS 102.

h) Investment policy

The group’s investment in an associate company is measured at cost less impairment. If there is any indication of impairment then the carrying amount will be tested and adjusted accordingly (note 12).

i) Financial instruments

The charity only has financial assets and financial liabilities of a kind that qualify as basic financial instruments. Basic financial instruments are listed in Table 7 of the Charities SORP and are initially recognised at transaction value and subsequently measured at their settlement value (note 23).

j) Investments

The investment in the subsidiaries is valued at cost.

Donated shares which are freely tradable are included at the market valuation at the balance sheet date. Shares are not intended to be held as investments and are sold as soon as practically possible and proceeds recognised as income.

k) Cash at bank and in hand

Cash at bank and in hand is held to meet short-term cash commitments as they fall due rather than for investment purposes and includes all cash equivalents held in the form of short-term highly liquid investments. A cash equivalent will normally have a short maturity of six months or less from the date of acquisition.

l) Pension cost

The charity operates a defined contribution pension scheme for UK staff. The assets of the scheme are held separately from those of the charity in independently administered funds. Contribution payments are charged to the SOFA. Similarly our staff in country programmes and regions are provided with post employment benefits that comply with local employment legislation.

m) Operating leases

Rentals payable under operating leases, where substantially all the risks and rewards of ownership remain with the lessor, are charged to the SOFA on a straight line basis for the duration of the lease contract.

n) Provisions

Provisions for future liabilities are recognised when the charity has a legal or constructive financial obligation, that can be reliably estimated and for which there is an expectation that payment will be made.

o) Critical accounting judgements and estimation uncertainty

Estimates and judgements are continually evaluated based on historical experience and other factors, including expectations of future events that are believed to be reasonable. Accounting estimates and judgements with significant impact on financial statements are concerned with grant, legacy and gift-in-kind income. These and other estimates and judgements are listed below. It is the opinion of the Trustees that there are no estimates and assumptions that have a significant risk of causing a material adjustment to the carrying amounts of assets and liabilities within the next financial year.

Critical judgements in applying the Group’s accounting policies

The Charity has through its trading company a 20% shareholding in WEAREGOODGIVING, a payroll giving company. The Charity does not have the power to significantly influence financial and reporting decisions made by WEAREGOODGIVING, therefore, the share capital has been classified as an investment in the accounts (note 12).

For grant income, entitlement is dependent upon fulfilment of conditions within the charity’s control, the income is recognised when there is sufficient evidence that conditions have been met. This judgement is made based on the income being reliably measured and probable based on contracted terms and progress made against agreed donor outcomes.

50 / WaterAid UK Annual report 2023–24

WaterAid UK Annual report 2023–24 / 51

Section 3 Financial statements

Section 3 Financial statements

Notes to the financial statements For the year ended 31 March 2024 (continued)

1. Accounting policies (continued)

Critical accounting estimates and assumptions

WaterAid’s estimate of legacy income entitlement is based on the following policy:

Pecuniary legacies are a fixed value income and we accrue all open gifts once probate has been granted and notification received.

Residuary legacies often involve the sale of assets such as stocks and property that vary over time and therefore WaterAid maintains a policy of only recognising the income from these legacies once final estate accounts have been issued. This is when the value is known with a high degree of probability and is a prudent interpretation of the SORP 2019. This interpretation is considered to be appropriate by the trustees in the context of WaterAid and has been consistently applied year on year. Those residuary legacies that do not meet recognition criteria are disclosed as part of the legacy pipeline as per note 2. Future residuary legacy income is based on a calculated estimate of the average value of a residuary gift.

Gifts in Kind are donated skills and services that are recognised as both income and expenditure and measured based on the value of the gift to WaterAid which could be market value or derived from the costs to the donor. The estimated cost for dilapidations work to be completed at the end of the lease period for the UK office building is recorded annually as a provision.

Where WaterAid staff members are involved in more than one activity between raising funds, delivery of charitable activities or support and governance an estimate of their time spent on each is made and costs allocated accordingly. WaterAid also estimates that support and governance costs are most reasonably allocated to raising funds and charitable activities in proportion to the respective levels of expenditure (note 5).

Going concern assumptions

As required by the Charities Statement of Recommended Practice (FRS 102), we assess whether there are any uncertainties that may cast doubt over our ability to continue as a going concern. For this purpose, we focus on a period of at least 12 months following the signing of these accounts, so the period to at least the end of September 2025.

Our annual budget and plan, approved by the Board in March 2024, represents management and the Board’s best forecast of the fundraising targets and key income streams, alongside the expected cost base for the years to 31 March 2026.

This budget forms the base case for our going concern assessment. In addition, we have undertaken scenario modelling to understand the impact of various income downsides and cost pressures on our future expenditure both at a UK and country programme level. We have modelled several scenarios that when compared to the budget assumptions reflect lower income and a higher cost base.

We have also prepared acute or ‘severe but plausible downside’ scenarios, which combines high inflation with a prolonged cost of living crisis affecting stock and property prices, a material reduction in regular giving and not securing future unrestricted funding contracts with key unrestricted funding partnerships.

Although the impact of the acute scenario is severe and would require the consideration of mitigating actions to reduce our discretionary cost base, the analysis indicates that the Group would have sufficient liquidity and reserves to honour our committed funding obligations and to maintain sufficient liquidity throughout the going concern period.

Robust monitoring processes are in place to ensure that the organisation is able to react quickly to any downturn in income and the short term deposit investments held can be liquidated quickly in the event that they are required. The Group currently has no bank financing or loan agreements and therefore there are no covenants to consider.

As at 31 March 2024, the Group held a general income fund of £22m, well above the target set in order to remain financially stable. The surplus funds above target are planned for investment in programme growth in line with the current strategy.

Taking into account our current position and our principal risks, the Trustees have a reasonable expectation that the Charity will be able to continue in operation and meet its liabilities as they fall due over the medium term. Accordingly, the Group expects to continue to have access to sufficient liquid resources to meet its obligations for a period of at least 12 months after the approval of these financial statements, namely the period to the end of September 2025 and the Board therefore continues to adopt the going concern basis of accounting in preparing the financial statements.

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2024 (continued)

2. Income from donations and legacies

Donations
Regular giving, donations and appeals
Legacy income
Fundraising events
Total donations
Grants of a general nature
Other WaterAid member countries
The Waterloo Foundation
People’s Postcode Lottery
Total grants of a general nature
Gifts in kind
Water industry partnerships
Customer appeal
Audit fees
Resilient Water Accelerator (RWA)
Other
Total gifts in kind
Total		 Unrestricted
£000
Restricted
£000
2024
Total
£000
Unrestricted
£000
Restricted
£000
2023
Total
£000
41,910
2,753
44,663
40,920
1,862
42,782
12,299
392
12,691
11,978
865
12,843
1,456
1,466
2,922
2,035
1,369
3,404
55,665
4,611
60,276
54,933
4,096
59,029
462
-
462
1,029
-
1,029
-
-
-
150
-
150
3,100
-
3,100
3,000
-
3,000
3,562
-
3,562
4,179
-
4,179
144
-
144
117
-
117
105
-
105
115
-
115
48
-
48
43
-
43
343
-
343
-
-
-
1
-
1
640
-
640
276
-
276
59,867
4,611
64,478
59,388
4,096
63,484

At 31 March 2024, WaterAid had been notified it will benefit from a number of legacies from estates whereby the value of the gift can only be estimated and timing of receipt of funds is uncertain. In addition to £2.2m (2023: £2.1m) of legacy income accrued in the financial statements as per our policy in note 1 (d) we estimate a further £17.1m (2023: £13.9m) of future legacy income. This pipeline value has not been recognised as income during the financial year as a significant proportion of the value relates to investments or property prices which can vary significantly between notification and receipt of funds. Conditional or contingent legacy income is not included in the pipeline where the outcome of the conditions can’t be reliably ascertained. Contentious legacies are excluded from the pipeline until entitlement is legally established.

Gifts in kind provided by our Water Industry Partners relate to support for fundraising events and delivery of charitable activities, and customer appeal relates to printing services. Gifts in kind provided to the Resilient Water Accelerator (RWA) programme, represents pro bono consultancy services to progress work in Nigeria and Bangladesh. The auditors remuneration was £81k (2023: £77k) and also provided donated services of £48k by way of a subsidy allocation (2023: £43k). See note 21 for more detailed information. The subsidy allows the firm to provide audit services at a reduced fee while still ensuring the financial performance of the audit is sustainable.

3. Other trading activities

Lotteries
Trading company
Total		 Unrestricted
£000
Restricted
£000
2024
Total
£000
Unrestricted
£000
Restricted
£000
2023
Total
£000
472
-
472
628
-
628
447
96
543
364
88
452
919
96
1,015
992
88
1,080

52 / WaterAid UK Annual report 2023–24

WaterAid UK Annual report 2023–24 / 53

Section 3 Financial statements

Section 3 Financial statements

Notes to the financial statements For the year ended 31 March 2024 (continued)

4. Income from charitable activities

Grant funding for specifc activities
Other WaterAid member countries
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Ofce (FCDO)
Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation
Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency
Kimberley-Clark
UNICEF
Japan International Cooperation Agency
AB InBev Foundation
Giorgio Armani Acqua for Life
DP World Income
Scottish Government
European Commission
Sustainable Safe WASH in Eastern Province
The Wimbledon Foundation
CUMMINS NIGERIA
Unilever
BandAid
Climate Bridge Fund (CBF)
UNDP
GSK
Deltares
Global Development Incubator (GDI)
Concern Worldwide
Heineken Africa Foundation
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH
CowaterSogema International
Irish Aid
Coca Cola
Diageo
LIFT Fund
Other grants
Total
_Hygiene Behaviour Change Coalition – received through Unilever_
_Resilient Water Accelerator - received through Global Development Incubator_
UK Aid received directly from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Ofce (FCDO)
UK Aid Match – Promoting a gender responsive, climate resilient WASH in drought-prone
communities in Ethiopia
Gender and Adolescent Inclusive School in Nepal
WASH Systems for Health - South Asia
One WASH
UK Aid received directly from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Ofce (FCDO)
Total UK Aid received from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Ofce (FCDO)**		 2024
Total
£000
2023
Total
£000
9,725
14,855
2,151
514
1,166
-
1,133
875
1,108
1,579
954
995
922
847
791
-
588
683
500
200
464
477
462
1,198
449
498
425
488
369
-
300
1,700
250
-
229
-
218
-
205
-
175
-
174
-
158
-
-
974
-
776
-
635
-
281
-
222
-
216
-
174
1,476
1,412
24,392
29,599
300
1,700
174
-
474
1,700
1,147
-
589
393
252
162
121
2,150
514
2,624
2,214

Grant funding for specific activities are displayed where total funding was greater than £150k for the current year.

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2024 (continued)

5. Expenditure

5. Expenditure
Allocation of
Amortisation support and
Other direct and governance 2024 2023
Staff costs costs depreciation costs Total Total
Raising funds Note £000 £000 £000 £000 £000 £000
Expenditure on raising grants, 7,364 13,441 502 2,402 23,709 23,398
donations and legacies
Expenditure on other 26 (30) - - (4) 142
trading activities
7,390 13,411 502 2,402 23,705 23,540
Charitable activities 7
Supporting partners to deliver 9,091 16,938 556 3,606 30,191 34,622
water, sanitation and hygiene
Strengthening national and local 7,308 10,965 188 4,331 22,792 21,900
capacity to deliver services
Infuencing policy in water, 4,500 6,485 185 2,152 13,322 12,398
sanitation and hygiene
Supporting WaterAid globally - 3,491 - 138 3,629 3,937
20,899 37,879 929 10,227 69,934 72,857
Governance 864 197 - (1,061) - -
Support costs 4,892 6,176 500 (11,568) - -
Governance and support costs 5,756 6,373 500 (12,629) - -
34,045 57,663 1,931 - 93,639 96,397

Governance and support costs have been allocated on the basis of actual full time equivalent staff numbers over the year in each area of activity. These staff numbers are listed in note 6 to the Financial Statements.

The governance and support costs and gains on exchange rates were incurred as follows:
Finance, people and information services
Chief Executive’s Ofce, internal audit and governance
Premises and facilities
Strategy transition
Gifts in kind
Support costs
Realised and unrealised exchange gains on assets
Total of governance and support costs and exchange gains		 2024
Total
£000
2023
Total
£000
8,855
7,092
1,061
1,078
2,030
1,760
981
1,433
45
127
12,972
11,490
(343)
(886)
12,629
10,604

The exchange rate movement is the net of the operational gains/losses incurred in delivering our services funded in GBP in local currencies and the gains/losses made on asset values held in currencies other than GBP.

Additional information on transactions with other WaterAid member countries can be found in note 22.

54 / WaterAid UK Annual report 2023–24

WaterAid UK Annual report 2023–24 / 55

Section 3 Financial statements

Section 3 Financial statements

Notes to the financial statements For the year ended 31 March 2024 (continued)

Prior year expenditure

Note
Raising funds
Expenditure on raising grants, donations
and legacies
Expenditure on other trading activities
Charitable activities
7
Supporting partners to deliver water,
sanitation and hygiene
Sector strengthening and capacity building
to deliver water, sanitation and hygiene
Infuencing policy in water, sanitation and
hygiene
Supporting WaterAid globally
Governance
Support costs
Governance and support costs		 Staff costs
£000
Other direct
costs
£000
Amortisation
and
depreciation
£000
Allocation of
support and
governance
costs
£000
2023
Total
£000
7,187
13,933
318
1,960
23,398
25
117
-
-
142
7,212
14,050
318
1,960
23,540
9,540
21,916
431
2,735
34,622
7,231
10,379
149
4,141
21,900
4,660
5,936
122
1,680
12,398
11
3,838
-
88
3,937
959
119
-
(1,078)
-
4,156
5,030
340
(9,526)
-
5,115
5,149
340
(10,604)
-
33,769
61,268
1,360
-
96,397

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2024 (continued)

6. Staff costs and numbers

6. Staf costs and numbers
Staff costs for the charity and group were as follows:
Wages and salaries
Social security costs
Other pension costs
The number of employees, calculated on a full time equivalent basis
and analysed on a functional basis, was as follows:
Fundraising staff (cost of generating funds)
Staff delivering charitable activities
Support staff
Governance		 2024
£000
2023
£000
29,440
29,246
1,523
1,512
3,082
3,011
34,045
33,769
2024
No.
2023
No.
152
150
639
653
72
77
13
12
876
892

During the year, there was an increase in total staff costs by 1% (2023: 8.2%).

The average monthly headcount was 888 staff (2023: 906). The total number of WaterAid employees at 31 March 2024 was 909 (2023: 909).

The charity paid termination payments totalling £227k (2023: £206k). The majority relates to organisational change management process which led to redundancies in some country programmes and final entiltlement payments for staff in country programmes that were closed during the year.

The number of UK and overseas employees whose total benefits excluding employer pension and employer national insurance costs amounted to over £60,000 in the year was as follows:

£60,000 - £69,999
£70,000 - £79,999
£80,000 - £89,999
£90,000 - £99,999
£100,000 - £109,999
£110,000 - £119,999
£120,000 - £129,999		 2024
No.
2023
No.
32
29
14
17
11
8
9
6
3
3
3
2
2
4
74
69

The total employee benefits paid to the Chief Executive were salary and taxable benefits in kind (including employer national insurance contributions) of £137,481 (2023: £134,067) and pension contributions of £15,975 (2023: £14,035). The Chief Executive’s salary is shown in the table above net of employer national insurance contributions of £9,616 (2023: £12,281). In the UK, WaterAid makes contributions for its employees to a defined contribution scheme operated by Aegon.

The key management personnel of the charity comprise the Trustees, the Chief Executive and the executive Directors’ Team. The total employee salary and benefits (including employer national insurance contributions but excluding pension), of the key management personnel of the group was £773k (2023: £708k). The number of key management personnel was seven (2023: six). The increased cost in 2024 reflects inflationary pay increases and a period of overlapping pay for the incoming and outgoing Executive Director of International Programmes.

56 / WaterAid UK Annual report 2023–24

WaterAid UK Annual report 2023–24 / 57

Section 3 Financial statements

Section 3 Financial statements

Notes to the financial statements For the year ended 31 March 2024 (continued)

7. Charitable activities expenditure by location

West Africa
Burkina Faso
Ghana
Liberia
Mali
Niger
Nigeria
Sierra Leone
Regional management and support costs
East Africa
Ethiopia
Rwanda
Tanzania
Uganda
Regional management and support costs
Southern Africa
Kingdom of eSwatini (previously Swaziland)
Madagascar
Malawi
Mozambique
Zambia
Regional management and support costs
Asia
Bangladesh
Myanmar
Nepal
Pakistan
Regional management and support costs
UK and other
Supporting WaterAid globally
Other UK direct international programme support
costs (including technical and programme
effectiveness)
UK-based policy, campaigns and education costs
Allocated UK support costs to charitable activities
Exchange (gains)/losses
Total		 Unrestricted
£000
Restricted
£000
2024
Total
£000
Unrestricted
£000
Restricted
£000
2023
Total
£000
722
959
1,681
876
2,558
3,434
431
1,261
1,692
470
607
1,077
596
625
1,221
574
609
1,183
908
1,646
2,554
1,017
2,180
3,197
373
676
1,049
315
487
802
657
2,148
2,805
1,134
1,875
3,009
331
134
465
297
419
716
1,071
101
1,172
991
79
1,070
5,089
7,550
12,639
5,674
8,814
14,488
1,152
2,263
3,415
946
2,989
3,935
736
2,136
2,872
731
1,459
2,190
1,194
555
1,749
1,414
1,010
2,424
811
1,726
2,537
668
1,128
1,796
1,072
47
1,119
1,197
49
1,246
4,965
6,727
11,692
4,956
6,635
11,591
175
(12)
163
569
639
1,208
924
880
1,804
907
1,598
2,505
527
1,659
2,186
683
1,911
2,594
890
1,658
2,548
1,335
478
1,813
787
1,422
2,209
550
4,444
4,994
794
541
1,335
858
760
1,618
4,097
6,148
10,245
4,902
9,830
14,732
1,077
3,154
4,231
1,011
2,566
3,577
299
224
523
454
941
1,395
603
1,790
2,393
338
2,249
2,587
718
1,202
1,920
941
891
1,832
445
159
604
492
61
553
3,142
6,529
9,671
3,236
6,708
9,944
2,881
609
3,490
3,395
454
3,849
4,176
1,287
5,463
3,578
1,243
4,821
5,669
843
6,512
4,293
498
4,791
10,602
4
10,606
9,436
21
9,457
(604)
220
(384)
(902)
86
(816)
22,724
2,963
25,687
19,800
2,302
22,102
40,017
29,917
69,934
38,568
34,289
72,857

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2024 (continued)

8. Payments to partner organisations

WaterAid has transferred a total of £7.9m (2023: £10.5m) to partners for the delivery of some of our programmatic work for the year ended 31 March 2024. Funding was provided to 75 (2023: 104) different partners under separate partnership agreements.

Transfers have been made to the following number of partners by size:
£0- £49,999
£50,000 - £99,999
£100,000 - £149,999
£150,000 - £199,999
£200,000 - £249,999
£250,000 and over		 2024
No.
2023
No.
32
56
17
14
10
13
5
6
2
3
9
12
75
104

The top 20 financial implementing partners recipients during the year ended 31 March 2024 are listed below. The implementation costs are included in the charitable expenditure outlined in notes 5 and 7.

2024 2023
Name of partner Country £000 £000
1 Les Compagnons Fontaniers du Rwanda Rwanda 774 -
2 Tsogang Water and Sanitation South Africa 464 548
3 Nabolok Bangladesh 417 156
4 Dushtha Shasthya Kendra - DSK Bangladesh 417 269
5 Laar Humanitarian Development Program Pakistan 405 -
6 APROFEM Mali 382 311
7 AYATEKE Star Company LTD Rwanda 322 291
8 Backward Society Education (BASE) Nepal 305 146
9 Rupantar Bangladesh 274 343
10 ALPHALOG Mali 249 322
11 Dalit Janakalyan Yuwa Club Nepal 206 172
12 Doaba Foundation Pakistan 181 235
13 Sajida Foundation Bangladesh 159 237
14 Eco-Social Development Organization - ESDO Bangladesh 158 128
15 Village Education Resource Center - VERC Bangladesh 156 104
16 RWCA - Rwanda Wildlife Conservation Association Rwanda 152 32
17 Groupe SDI Mali 147 141
18 Centre Culturel Kore Segou Mali 145 150
19 DevCon-As association for Rural Development Pakistan 144 22
20 AMREF Health Africa Malawi 144 200
Other partners 2,303 6,648
Total payments to implementing partners 7,904 10,455

The total spend on charitable activities, as per the consolidated statement of financial activities, was £53m (2023: £56.5m) on delivery of water, sanitation and hygiene, including sector strengthening and £13.3m on influencing policy in water, sanitation and hygiene (2023: £12.4m).

58 / WaterAid UK Annual report 2023–24

WaterAid UK Annual report 2023–24 / 59

Section 3 Financial statements

Section 3 Financial statements

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2024 (continued)

9. Fixed assets

9. Fixed assets
Group and charity Intangible assets Tangible assets
Lease Motor Equipment
Software improvements vehicles and furniture Total
Cost £000 £000 £000 £000 £000
At 1 April 2023 8,004 2,464 3,687 3,299 17,454
Additions in year 994 - 316 31 1,341
Disposals in year (2,274) - (515) (1,282) (4,071)
At 31 March 2024 6,724 2,464 3,488 2,048 14,724
Accumulated amortisation/depreciation
At 1 April 2023 5,725 615 3,112 2,352 11,804
Charge for the year 1,050 246 321 309 1,926
Disposals in year (2,274) - (505) (1,264) (4,043)
At 31 March 2024 4,501 861 2,928 1,397 9,687
Net book value
At 31 March 2024 2,223 1,603 560 651 5,037
At 31 March 2023 2,279 1,849 575 947 5,650

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2024 (continued)

10. Debtors

10. Debtors
Amounts due within one year:
Amounts owed by WaterAid Trading Limited
Amounts owed by WaterAid international
Grant debtors
Other debtors
Gift Aid tax recoverable
Prepayments
Accrued income		 Group
Charity
2024
£000
2023
£000
2024
£000
2023
£000
-
-
264
1,255
237
-
237
-
2,953
3,224
2,953
3,224
1,095
1,580
1,034
1,256
1,129
784
1,129
784
1,453
1,069
1,453
1,069
4,271
2,418
4,271
2,393
11,138
9,075
11,341
9,981

Amounts owed by WaterAid Trading Limited are unsecured, interest free, have no fixed date of repayment and are payable on demand.

Prior year fixed assets

Group and charity Intangible assets Tangible assets
Lease Motor Equipment
Software improvements vehicles and furniture Total
Cost £000 £000 £000 £000 £000
At 1 April 2022 7,021 2,458 3,922 3,113 16,514
Additions in year 983 6 307 600 1,896
Disposals in year - - (542) (414) (956)
At 31 March 2023 8,004 2,464 3,687 3,299 17,454
Accumulated amortisation/depreciation
At 1 April 2022 5,229 369 3,337 2,464 11,399
Charge for the year 496 246 317 301 1,360
Disposals in year - - (542) (413) (955)
At 31 March 2023 5,725 615 3,112 2,352 11,804
Net book value
At 31 March 2023 2,279 1,849 575 947 5,650
At 31 March 2022 1,792 2,089 585 649 5,115

60 / WaterAid UK Annual report 2023–24

WaterAid UK Annual report 2023–24 / 61

Section 3 Financial statements

Notes to the financial statements For the year ended 31 March 2024 (continued)

11. Group companies

WATERAID TRADING LIMITED Company number 02362892

WaterAid Trading Limited is incorporated in England and Wales (company number: 02362892). WaterAid Trading Limited’s registered office and operational address is: WaterAid, 6th Floor, 20 Canada Square, London, E14 5NN.

a) Proft and loss account
Turnover
Cost of sales
Gross proft
Administrative and selling expenses
Impairment reversal /(charge)
Operating proft
Interest receivable
Proft on ordinary activities
Corporation tax
Gift Aid to WaterAid under Deed of Covenant
b) Balance sheet
Non-current assets
Investment in associated companies:
WeAreGoodGiving Ltd.
Current assets
Debtors
Cash at bank and in hand
Creditors
Amounts due within one year
Net assets
Represented by:
Share capital		 2024
£000
2023
£000
526
439
(14)
(24)
512
415
(48)
(34)
82
(82)
546
299
17
12
563
311
(16)
(311)
(547)
(311)
-
-
2024
£000
2023
£000
182
100
182
100
62
353
264
947
326
1,300
(508)
(1,400)
-
-
-
-

WaterAid Trading Limited has a share capital of two £1 ordinary shares (2023: two £1 ordinary shares)

A deed of covenant is in place whereby all profits generated by the company are distributed to the parent charity in the form of a ‘qualifying distribution’.

Wholly owned subsidiaries

WATERAID (WASH AND CLIMATE CHANGE) LIMITED Company number 12508772

Registered Office: 6th Floor, 20 Canada Square, London E14 5NN

On 10 March 2020, two new companies guaranteed by WaterAid, without share capital, were incorporated in England and Wales for the purpose of funding lotteries. WaterAid holds 100% of the voting rights of each company and has the right to appoint a majority of the board of directors of the companies. In accordance with sections 394A and 448A of the Companies Act 2006, Directors confirm that both companies were dormant throughout the financial year. Directors are exempt from the requirement to deliver a copy of the companies’ annual accounts in accordance with these sections.

----- Start of picture text -----
Pravati Rani, 30, drinking a glass of
clean water from the Reverse Osmosis
Plant, Borokuput, Shyamnagar,
Bangladesh. June 2023.
WaterAid/ Fabeha Monir
----- End of picture text -----

62 / WaterAid UK Annual report 2023–24

Section 3 Financial statements

Section 3 Financial statements

Notes to the financial statements For the year ended 31 March 2024 (continued)

12. Fixed asset investment

Wateraid Trading Ltd invested £82k in March 2022 for a 20% shareholding in a new payroll giving company: WEAREGOODGIVING Ltd with registered company number 13256341. An additional £100k was invested in February 2023. The other equal shareholders are four other charities. The new company was set up with an independent Managing Director and three Non-Executive Directors nominated from the charities. In addition to the articles of association, the company governance is established by the Subscription and Shareholding Agreement. There were no distributions in the financial year, however a decision was made to reverse the impairment of £82,000 that was made in the prior financial year based on our assessment that the asset value has improved through the acquisition of a leading company in the sector, and approval of further investment in the company. The carrying value of the asset is £182k (see table below).

Cost
At 1 April 2023
Investment in year
Asset reversal/(impairment)
Net book value at 31 March 2024		 2024
£000
2023
£000
100
82
-
100
82
(82)
182
100

13. Cash at bank and in hand

Cash and bank balances in UK
Cash and bank balances overseas
Short-term deposits in UK		 Group
Charity
2024
£000
2023
£000
2024
£000
2023
£000
23,895
29,870
23,311
28,603
2,983
4,482
2,983
4,482
4,200
3,000
4,200
3,000
31,078
37,352
30,494
36,085

The short-term deposits are those which can be accessed with no notice.

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2024 (continued)

14. Creditors: amounts falling due within one year

Trade creditors
Taxation and social security
Other creditors
Accruals
Deferred income		 Group
Charity
2024
£000
2023
£000
2024
£000
2023
£000
2,791
4,041
2,791
4,041
1,017
746
788
636
184
376
184
356
2,346
3,194
2,331
3,182
203
229
203
229
6,541
8,586
6,297
8,444

The deferred income relates to funding received for activities in a future period. The movements in deferred income are analysed as follows:

Group and charity
Deferred income at the beginning of the year
Amounts released from previous years
Income deferred in the year
Deferred income at the end of the year		 2024
£000
2023
£000
229
182
(229)
(182)
203
229
203
229

15. Provision for liabilities and charges

Provision falling due under one year
Provisions at beginning of the year
Amount charged to statement of fnancial activities
Amount released to statement of fnancial activities
Provisions at end of the year
Provision falling due more than one year
Dilapidation provision		 Group
Charity
2024
£000
2023
£000
2024
£000
2023
£000
1,444
1,425
1,125
1,106
1,724
1,509
1,724
1,509
(1,695)
(1,490)
(1,695)
(1,490)
1,473
1,444
1,154
1,125
209
157
209
157
209
157
209
157

Provisions include end of contract provisions for staff on non-UK contracts and contract retention amounts on programme construction works. Contract provisions for staff include lump sums paid at the end of contract, similar to a pension scheme and/or loyalty payment which is paid on full completion of service. Dilapidation provision is charge for the rental of office space in the UK at 20 Canada Square.

64 / WaterAid UK Annual report 2023–24

WaterAid UK Annual report 2023–24 / 65

Section 3 Financial statements

Section 3 Financial statements

16. Movements in funds

Unrestricted funds:
Designated funds: Fixed assets fund
Total designated funds
General funds
Total unrestricted funds
Restricted funds:
Bangladesh
Burkina Faso
East Africa Region
Ethiopia
Ghana
Kingdom of eSwatini
Liberia
Madagascar
Malawi
Mali
Mozambique
Myanmar
Nepal
Niger
Nigeria
Pakistan
Rwanda
Sierra Leone
Southern Africa Region
South Asia
Tanzania
Uganda
West Africa Region
Zambia
UK
Total restricted funds
Total funds		 At 1 April
2023
£000
Income
£000
Expenditure
£000
At 31 March
2024
£000
5,748
674
(1,521)
4,901
5,748
674
(1,521)
4,901
22,847
61,088
(61,952)
21,983
28,595
61,762
(63,473)
26,884
1,636
4,275
(3,383)
2,528
495
925
(976)
444
60
-
(56)
4
303
2,512
(2,497)
318
612
1,873
(1,265)
1,220
(24)
14
10
-
129
588
(634)
83
(577)
1,765
(912)
276
686
1,978
(1,677)
987
174
1,972
(1,646)
500
852
822
(1,779)
(105)
12
247
(237)
22
1,340
1,782
(1,898)
1,224
29
220
(685)
(436)
1,431
2,633
(2,166)
1,898
19
1,238
(1,233)
24
1,992
2,062
(2,210)
1,844
(55)
187
(132)
-
359
383
(552)
190
100
180
(160)
120
(157)
557
(550)
(150)
1,923
988
(1,775)
1,136
94
56
(102)
48
873
529
(1,468)
(66)
1,089
1,313
(2,183)
219
13,395
29,099
(30,166)
12,328
41,990
90,861
(93,639)
39,212

The table above is presented at an aggregate country programme level. Included in these balances are funds in deficit which total £3.9m (2023: £4.2m). In accordance with SORP 2019 paragraph 2.15, restricted fund balances may be negative when expenditure is made on a project that is expected to be reimbursed by a donor, but where, at the end of the financial year, not all the conditions have been met that would justify this income being recognised within the accounts. This results in an excess of expenditure over income on individual restricted funds. It is considered that the likelihood of reimbursement is of a sufficient level to justify the carrying of these deficit funds at the end of the year.

The Trustees’ Annual Report explains the main reasons why the group and the charity hold unrestricted funds and the adequacy of these funds at the year end. The reserves policy is reviewed on an annual basis and regularly monitored.

16. Movements in funds for prior year

Unrestricted funds:
Designated funds: Fixed assets fund
Total designated funds
General funds
Total unrestricted funds
Restricted funds:
Bangladesh
Burkina Faso
East Africa Region
Ethiopia
Ghana
Kingdom of eSwatini
Liberia
Madagascar
Malawi
Mali
Mozambique
Myanmar
Nepal
Niger
Nigeria
Pakistan
Rwanda
Sierra Leone
Southern Africa Region
South Asia Region
Tanzania
Uganda
West Africa Region
Zambia
UK
Total restricted funds
Total funds		 At 1 April
2022
£000
Income
£000
Expenditure
£000
At 31 March
2023
£000
5,195
958
(405)
5,748
5,195
958
(405)
5,748
24,360
59,803
(61,316)
22,847
29,555
60,761
(61,721)
28,595
1,122
3,051
(2,537)
1,636
906
2,200
(2,611)
495
20
84
(44)
60
1,055
2,470
(3,222)
303
627
592
(607)
612
337
278
(639)
(24)
(140)
886
(617)
129
215
849
(1,641)
(577)
584
2,062
(1,960)
686
502
1,852
(2,180)
174
(30)
1,388
(506)
852
435
575
(998)
12
2,136
1,554
(2,350)
1,340
(93)
609
(487)
29
660
2,728
(1,957)
1,431
95
864
(940)
19
406
3,108
(1,522)
1,992
(90)
454
(419)
(55)
426
713
(780)
359
51
88
(39)
100
389
463
(1,009)
(157)
829
2,243
(1,149)
1,923
(16)
184
(74)
94
2,831
2,585
(4,543)
873
1,033
1,903
(1,847)
1,089
14,290
33,783
(34,678)
13,395
43,845
94,544
(96,399)
41,990

The table above is presented at an aggregate country programme level. Included in these balances are funds in deficit which total £4.2m (2022: £2.4m). In accordance with SORP 2019 paragraph 2.15, restricted fund balances may be negative when expenditure is made on a project that is expected to be reimbursed by a donor, but where, at the end of the financial year, not all the conditions have been met that would justify this income being recognised within the accounts. This results in an excess of expenditure over income on individual restricted funds. It is considered that the likelihood of reimbursement is of a sufficient level to justify the carrying of these deficit funds at the end of the year.

The Trustees’ Annual Report explains the main reasons why the group and the charity hold unrestricted funds and the adequacy of these funds at the year end. The reserves policy is reviewed on an annual basis and regularly monitored.

66 / WaterAid UK Annual report 2023–24

WaterAid UK Annual report 2023–24 / 67

Section 3 Financial statements

Section 3 Financial statements

Notes to the financial statements For the year ended 31 March 2024 (continued)

16. Movements in funds (continued)

Designated funds

Designated funds currently consist of the Fixed Asset Fund of £4.9m (2023: £5.7m) which represents the net book value of the charity’s intangible and tangible fixed assets.

General funds

The Board of Trustees has set a target operational reserve within the general funds to enable WaterAid to meet the potential costs related to any corporate risks materialising. The rationale for these reserves is discussed in the Trustees’ Annual Report and the operational reserve targeted for 2023-24 was a range of £13m to £17m. The balance as at 31 March 2024 was £22m (2023: £22.8m).

Restricted funds

Restricted funds are used for specified purposes as laid down by the donor. Expenditure which meets these criteria is charged to the fund, together with a fair allocation of support costs in line with the terms of the contract.

Negative balances are carried forward on funds only where further income is considered highly probable in the following year.

17. Analysis of group net assets between funds

Restricted income funds
Designated funds
General income funds
Total funds as at 31 March 2024		 Fixed
assets
£000
Net current
assets
£000
2024 Total
funds
£000
Fixed
assets
£000
Net current
assets
£000
2023 Total
funds
£000
-
12,328
12,328
-
13,395
13,395
4,901
-
4,901
5,748
-
5,748
-
21,983
21,983
-
22,847
22,847
4,901
34,311
39,212
5,748
36,242
41,990

18. Taxation and charitable status

The charity is exempt from corporation tax as all its income is charitable and is applied for charitable purposes. The charity’s trading subsidiary WaterAid Trading Limited pays available profits to the charity through Gift Aid under deed of covenant. Its charge for corporation tax in the year was £16k (2023: £nil). The corporation tax was paid due to the impairment provision made on the investment in WEAREGOODGIVING in the prior year.

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2024 (continued)

21. Net movement in funds or net income for the year

This is stated after charging/(crediting):
Amortisation and depreciation
Trustees’ indemnity insurance
Trustees’ reimbursed expenses
Auditors’ remuneration – PwC:
Audit – WaterAid UK
Audit – WaterAid Trading Limited
Audit Gift in Kind
Auditors’ remuneration – Other audit frms
Exchange gain
UK operating lease rentals – buildings		 2024
£000
2023
£000
1,926
1,360
7
6
42
5
108
65
13
12
48
43
80
87
(343)
(886)
988
902

Trustees of the charity do not receive remuneration for their services but are reimbursed for travel and accommodation expenses. During the year, 14 Trustees were reimbursed for expenses totaling £41,720 (2023: 5 Trustees; £5,237). The increased trustees expenses was due to country programme field visits and an in-person trustees meeting.

Trustee indemnity insurance covers Trustees against personal liability in certain circumstances if legal claims were to be made against them.

The group paid £201k total audit fees excluding gifts in kind in the year ended 31 March 2024 (2023: £167k). This figure includes £81k, exclusive of VAT (2023: £77k) for the consolidated statutory audit provided by PwC UK, who also provided audit services as a gift in kind with a value of £48k (2023: £43k). It also includes fees of £40k, exclusive of VAT, (2023: £nil) relating to the 2022/23 audit provided by PwC. Other audit fees relate to services provided by firms other than PwC for overseas country office external audits, project audits and donor grant audits as required by the conditions of funding contracts. PwC provided £300 of non-audit services to the group.

19. Company limited by guarantee

The liability of 37 members (2023: 37) of the charity is limited by guarantee to £1 each.

20. Operating lease commitments

The charity had the following future minimum lease payments under noncancellable operating leases for each of the following periods:

Within one year
1 – 2 years
2 – 5 years
More than 5 years		 Land and buildings
2024
£000
2023
£000
1,114
977
929
1,023
3,448
3,156
773
1,804
6,264
6,960

WaterAid holds a 15 year operating lease from 31 December 2019 for the rental of office space in the UK with a break option after 10 years.

68 / WaterAid UK Annual report 2023–24

WaterAid UK Annual report 2023–24 / 69

Section 3 Financial statements

Section 3 Financial statements

Notes to the financial statements For the year ended 31 March 2024 (continued)

22. Related party transactions

WaterAid, WaterAid America, WaterAid Australia, WaterAid Canada, WaterAid Sweden, WaterAid India (Jal Seva Charitable Foundation) and WaterAid Japan are members of WaterAid international, operating under licence from WaterAid international to use the name WaterAid. All these organisations share the same objectives and vision. WaterAid receives funding for its charitable objectives from WaterAid America, WaterAid Australia, WaterAid Canada, WaterAid Japan and WaterAid Sweden. WaterAid has provided grants to support WaterAid America, WaterAid Sweden and WaterAid India in 2024 for programmatic, fundraising and organisational development.

Transactions between WaterAid and other member countries of the WaterAid Federation were as follows:

WaterAid America
WaterAid Australia
WaterAid Canada
WaterAid Japan
WaterAid Sweden
WaterAid India
WaterAid international		 Received from:
Paid to:
2024
£000
2023
£000
2024
£000
2023
£000
7,330
10,472
1,042
2,010
45
551
-
-
995
1,549
-
-
45
18
-
-
1,691
3,178
460
-
-
-
1,456
1,309
80
115
532
529
10,186
15,883
3,490
3,848

During the year WaterAid paid expenses on behalf of WaterAid international of £197k (2023: £168k). At 31 March 2024 the outstanding debtor balance with WaterAid international and other members was £147k (2023: £225k) which is due to be settled early in the 2024-25 financial year. WaterAid donated services as a gift in kind to WaterAid international in the form of office space and staff costs during the year. The donated services were valued at £667k (2023: £664k).

Full declarations of interest are obtained from Trustees and Directors for their own activities outside of WaterAid governance as well as those of their spouses/ partners and dependants.

Hilary Wild is a trustee of Christ Church. During the year WaterAid received £3,091 from Christ Church (2023: £nil).

Andy Green was a trustee of WWF (up to October 2023) to which WaterAid made no payments in 2024 (2023: £6,214).

Heidi Mottram is CEO of Northumbrian Water Group. During the year WaterAid received £103,522 from Northumbrian Water Group Ltd (2023: £76,122). Heidi also personally donated £14,009 in 2024 (2023: £5,000).

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2024 (continued)

Transactions between WaterAid UK Net income Balance owed Net income Balance owed
and WaterAid Trading to charity to charity at 31 to charity to charity at 31
£000 March 2024 £000 March 2023
£000 £000
Trademark – Logo 33 - 21 -
Deed of Covenant (547) - (311) -
Admin expenses 32 - 32 -
Group undertaking - 264 - 1,255

23. Financial instruments

23. Financial instruments
Financial assets
Cash and cash equivalents
Grant receivables
Other receivables
Accrued income
Financial liabilities
Trade creditors
Other creditors
Accruals		 2024
£000
2023
£000
31,078
37,352
2,952
3,224
2,225
2,364
4,271
2,418
40,526
45,358
2,791
4,041
972
1,122
2,331
3,194
6,094
8,357

In respect of disclosure of financial instruments, sections 11 and 12 of FRS 102 have been adopted. All financial assets and liabilities are payable or receivable within one year are therefore measured at an undiscounted value.

Alyson Clark personally donated £630 in 2024 (2023: £120).

Peter Simpson is CEO of Anglian Water. During the year WaterAid received £820,765 from Anglian Water Services Limited (2023: £843,216) and £nil from AWG Corporate Services Limited (2023: £80). Peter also personally donated £950 in 2024 (2023: £5,520).

Mala Rao personally donated £940 in 2024 (2023: £840).

Heather Skilling is a consultant to the World Bank. During the year WaterAid received no payments from the World Bank (2023: £30,711).

The charity has disclosed the financial statements of the subsidiary, WaterAid Trading Limited, detailed in note 14.

70 / WaterAid UK Annual report 2023–24

WaterAid UK Annual report 2023–24 / 71

We are determined for everyone, everywhere to have clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene. By tackling these three essentials in ways that last, people can change their lives for good.

Students use their school water tap, Kazungula district, Zambia. November 2023.

WaterAid, 6th Floor, 20 Canada Square, London E14 5NN Registered charity numbers 288701 (England and Wales) and SCO39479 (Scotland) Company number: 1787329